Colors
by ThatNerdFromSchool
Summary: Everyone sees the world in a grayscale. Color does not exist. In order to see the world for what it is, you must fall in love with someone. Percy Jackson is a 15 year old freshman at Goode High with a crush on the smart, popular girl Annabeth Chase. Follow his story as he learns the woes of high school, and the pain of not being able to keep secrets. AU. T, but one chapter is dark
1. Chapter 1

Color. Despite what you might believe, it wasn't familiar to most of the people Percy had met. It was a strange concept if you didn't know what color was in the first place. If you only saw gray.

He could see some differentiation however, he could see shades of gray. Black was black, and white was white, but everything in between was just a darker or lighter shade.

As was the world.

No one knew how long the affliction went back in human history. Some ancient Egyptian tomes speak of the man who saw red. They say that one day he went to work at the market, went through his day, and suddenly the blankets hanging on the wall weren't gray.

They were a bright, vibrant red.

No one knows how, or why, that happened.

It just did.

There was another tale, in 1666. London was a sprawling city of hustle and bustle, workers trying to advance their well-being. One man was different. "He was a recluse", one source says, "Hidden away in his house all day. Never went outside."

Then he did.

One word was said by the man who started the fire. The Great Fire of London, which claimed an estimated 70,000 homes.

"Love."

He was deemed insane, and was shipped off to prison without a second thought. No one ever asked a second question.

The last tale to be told here will be told, choose to believe it or not, that is your choice. The last men to have seen color were Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and Richard Morris Hunt. They designed the Statue of Liberty.

Word was, when the Statue was finally built, and erected for the first time, tears shed from the men's eyes. They were said to have put all they had into the one structure, and that was emotionally momentous for them.

Then they saw the gleaming, brown copper. Not gray. No one believed them, but the words were put to record in history.

These are only the most popular of examples. Many people claiming to see color were all over the world, but they were called crazy the moment they said anything like that. Some called it societal suicide, others insanity. One man didn't.

Someone made the connection. One Alexander Albert Lehman. He was an aspiring scientist, living in a small apartment in New York City. Legend has it, he was sitting on a busted up couch late at night, reading some old novel by some small author.

Then he cracked the code.

More specifically, it was the decision to stay up late reading romance novels, but the code was cracked nonetheless. Alexander's work was strange. He had no true purpose of study. He majored in engineering, and became a scientist of his own accord. No major in chemistry, physics, or anything. Just hard books and late nights.

According to the man himself, he was reading about love, no matter how cheesy the book was, it struck a spark. "I snatched my laptop from my side and frantically tapped out some words into Google. Crazy, I know. Some wanna be scientist cracked the world's secret with one Google search, but that's how it happened."

All he did was type: People who claimed to see color.

It was easy as that. The sleep deprived man in an extremely cheap apartment changed the world.

Percy sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He cracked his knuckles as he typed his paper on Alexander Albert Lehman, the man who changed the world.

"Crazy old man." Percy muttered under his breath before going back to typing, "If you're going to change the world, at least have some proof behind you first."

Alexander's theory wasn't the best. It was half-baked at best and maniacal at worst. He had no one to back him up, and so the only thing to do was write a paper.

When the paper was published, The Complete Analysis of People Who Saw Color and the Similarities Between Them, it lit up like wildfire. Critics from every corner of the scientific community bashed the piece, calling it 'stupid' and 'non-scientific'. Then the proof became undeniable.

One of the biggest haters of the theory, a man of German descent, Rheiner Stahlbaum, saw color. In one night he went from destroying the paper by hateful words, to praising it like the high heavens above. The paper was taken as real by one post.

" _Hello. It is I, Rheiner Stahlbaum, here to apologize. As you may know, the extremely popular paper,_ The Complete Analysis of People Who Saw Color and the Similarities Between Them, _has been public for a week now. I have been attacking it for what I saw it as. Unscientific and ridiculous. Then something changed. As you all know, the paper claims that to see color, you must fall in love. That happened to me. I am ashamed to admit that I use a dating app. On this first date, it was unexplainable. She was wonderful, funny, amazing. When I looked in her eyes, I saw_ **blue**."

The post exploded. Everyone was shocked, and it was accepted as true. People came forward, telling their stories. Most were old couples who had been married for years. They had been called silly and senile for claiming to see the world as it was supposed to be, and now they were accepted.

By the year 2010, the idea of Matching was born. The creator of the app Tinder combined efforts with Stahlbaum and Lehman, and invented an algorithm that took data from social media posts, personal inserts of interests, wants in a partner, needs in a partner, etc.

Matching stations were popping up in every major city. A revolution was taking the world by storm.

Then there were some, shall we say, unexpected results. A woman took the test out of pure curiosity, and matched with her boyfriend's best friend. The news got out, and the boyfriend was not happy. The boyfriend killed the girl in cold blood and drunken rage, then moved on to the friend, and killed him too.

President Barack Obama declared that something had to be done. Congress passed a law unanimously, stating restrictions of the test, and those who took it.

Any person who wishes to take any form of the 'Matching' must be over the age of majority, or else punishable by a minimum of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Any person who applies for the test must not take any mind altering substance, such as alcohol, hard drugs, or any amount of overdose of over the counter drugs.

Any person who completes the 'Matching' cannot sue any person for emotional harm, such as the reason for the test is to see inside one's mind and find a match.

The President signed it immediately, and the Supreme Court didn't even so much as object to the passing of the law.

The Matching had begun.

Percy groaned as he cracked his fingers. Snatching a glance at the clock, he read 11:37. He groaned louder, and slammed his hand on his desk in a not-so-light way. He cringed at the loud sound, hoping not to wake his mom, or worse, Gabe.

Gabe was a stinky bastard of a man. He smoked cigars the size of Percy's fist, and drank til the sun came up and then down again. Percy still didn't know why his mother stayed with him. She hadn't taken the matching, it cost too much, and Gabe definitely didn't love his mom.

Percy sighed, then stripped off his shirt and collapsed into bed, ready for another insufferable day at school.

* * *

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP SMACK!

Stars floated around Percy's head as he hit the ground.

'Not a good start to today.' He thought miserably, eyes drooping.

Reluctantly he crawled off of the floor. Grabbing some fresh shorts from a drawer and a decent-smelling shirt from the one above that, he tip-toed into the bathroom. The shower water was ice cold, and he definitely wasn't stepping into that water anytime soon.

BANG BANG.

"Brat open up the door so I can take a piss! I told you to never lock the door dammit!" A roaring voice yelled from outside.

'Gabe. Shit.' Percy cursed, then he yelled aloud, "Alright but give me a second, I'm getting in the shower."

Percy hurriedly unlocked the door, then nearly sprinted into the shower. Sure enough, Gabe didn't wait so much as three seconds before barging in and slamming the door into the wall.

Percy tried not to shake too much as the water slowly warmed up, but the goosebumps were only visualizing the misery of the morning so far.

After the shower, Percy slipped into the clothes he had, and then toweled his strangely, barely wet hair, and then strolled into the kitchen. Ignoring Gabe in the living room, smoking _again,_ he greeted his mother warmly and sat down.

"Morning honey." Sally Jackson smiled, focusing on the pancake batter on the pan.

Sally Jackson was pretty much the only light in Percy's life. She cared for him through thick and thin, even with his terrible grades and getting kicked out of numerous schools. Sally was the only person holding Percy together, or else he would have ran away years prior.

"Morning mom." Percy replied, breathing deeply, "Smells good, but don't forget…"

Sally interjected, "The blue food coloring. I'll never forget sweetie."

Percy smiled as he zipped up his backpack, checking that all his papers and school laptop were in there. Tapping absentmindedly, his ADHD zoned him out he didn't even hear the doorbell ring.

"Percy, could you get that please?"

"Huh, oh! Yeah sure mom."

Percy hopped off the stool, then snuck past Gabe, who was opening _another_ can of cheap beer, and opened the door.

"Grover! Hey man what're you doing here? School isn't for another hour and forty five minutes." Percy said, clapping Grover's hand.

"Actually I was here to remind you about that new club we signed up for. Study Club, remember?" Grover deadpanned, as if knowing that Percy had forgotten.

Percy cringed, "Oh. That. Umm, well I was hoping you would forget about that. Look man my grades are rising. I've got an A in Latin, and my lowest is a D in English, and that's only because Mrs. Roan sucks."

"Ah ah ah, I can see right through you man. It's only been a few weeks and I know you have an F in Math. C'mon. I'll be right there with you. I heard that Annabeth girl is gonna be there. Remember her?" Grover grinned, a sly smile on his face.

Percy blushed, then pulled Grover into the kitchen, past Gabe, who had opened a _second_ beer and was holding a new cigar in his left hand.

"Mom, I forgot about Study Club, gotta run. Sorry!" Percy blabbed. He grabbed three pancakes that were sitting on the counter, his backpack, and almost full sprinted out the door, pulling poor Grover behind him.

This did not fare well, as Grover had a disease in his lower legs, and had crutches. Luckily, he was used to this, and hopped with extreme speed to keep up.

"Perce you gotta stop doing that." Grover whined, puffing with harsh breaths. The pair now walked at a normal speed, towards the new school Percy had transferred to. Goode High.

Percy said nothing, only smirked lightly, then gazed around at the street. Small booths were set up along the sidewalks, advertising different foods, hot dogs, sandwiches, burgers. A very large bill board glowed in a bright grey with one word across it, Matching.

Percy snorted as he watched a woman walk into the small hut just below the billboard. All it was was a fingerprint scanner, and insert for a Social Security Card, and a tray for the entering personality sheet and return list.

He absentmindedly wondered who he would get. It would only be three years, not far off. Annabeth could be there… He blushed a dark gray at the thought. She was the prettiest girl in his grade, blond hair, striking grey eyes, so smart she's taking sophomore classes as a freshman. She was perfect, and dating Luke Castellan. The notorious jock of Goode High, captain of the football team, baseball team, and scholarships to every sports focused college in the country.

Their journey ended, standing at the entrance of Goode High. The flag waved, flapping in the chilly air. Percy sighed, ready to be embarrassed at how stupid he was, but marched bravely into the school, Grover at his side.

The janitor was mopping the halls, a few teachers standing around with coffees, probably gossiping about Percy was _early_ to school for once. He ignored the glances.

"So what room was it, G-Man?" Percy asked, perusing the paper signs hung from the ceiling.

"109. Down by Mrs. Roan." Grover replied.

They trekked through the halls, the only noise was the occasional voice and the clack of Grover's crutches. Finally they arrived at room 109. A simple door, window blocked out by a paper from the inside.

'Probably some stupid inspirational poster,' Percy thought darkly. School was not his favorite activity.

The sound of voices could be heard from inside. Percy took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Inside was a simple room. Instead of individual desks, there were three tables fit for eight people at a time. There were bean bag chairs in the corner, next to a long bookshelf of a combination of fiction books and textbooks.

At the front of the room was a whiteboard, a projector screen hanging above, ready to be pulled down. Next to the whiteboard was the teacher's desk, noticeably empty. Lastly, in the back of the room was a semi circle table, with a teacher sitting on a chair in what would be the center of the flat edge.

There were several other students in the classroom already. Percy recognized a few.

Leo was a sneaky, hyperactive Hispanic boy who had PE, Science, and Band with Percy.

Frank was the 6'4" Asian guy, who played on the football team and had Math, PE, and Spanish with Percy.

Nico was the quiet boy in the corner, fiddling with a pen and staring blankly at a sheet of paper in front of him. He had Science and Band with Percy.

Jason was Luke Castellan's right hand man. He was the captain of the basketball team and played on the football team. Percy didn't really know him, but knew Jason was in his PE, Science, and Social Studies classes.

A few more kids were scattered around the room. Nico was in the corner, still quiet as always. Leo and Frank were sitting at the teacher's table with a third girl, hovering over a Math book. Or at least, Frank was. Leo was currently chaining several paper clips together and was seeing how many he could drape from the hood of Frank's jacket.

Jason was at another table, laughing loudly at a joke Luke had told. Luke had his back to Percy, but right in front of Luke was Annabeth.

Annabeth had thrown her head back in laughter, eyes glimmering with tears of humor. Her golden hair shimmered-

"Percy!" Grover quietly shouted. Percy jerked in shock, then realized he was staring.

"Ugh I zoned out. Did anyone notice?"

"Nah, but let's go meet the teach. I hear she's good."

The moved through the chairs and sat down at the head table, nodding to Frank, Leo, and the unnamed girl.

"Hi. You must be Percy and Grover, right?" They nodded. "I'm Mrs. Chase, the Study Club teacher. As you already know, I'm here to help with any questions you have on homework in any classes."

Percy nearly choked. Chase? Like _Annabeth_ Chase. Oh Lord, first having four, now technically FIVE classes with his crush, and one of them was with her mom as a teacher.

He hoped she didn't see the fear in his eyes.

"Hi Mrs. Chase. Are we late or anything, there are already a lot of people here." Grover asked, saving Percy from a very awkward staring contest.

"No, not at all. The class doesn't officially start for ten minutes, but some students want extra socializing and study time."

Grover nodded, then lead the still dazed Percy to an empty table. "You alright man? You don't look so good." Grover looked at Percy, trying to see anything wrong.

"Dude, that's Annabeth's _mom_."

"Ok?" Grover asked, clearly not understanding Percy's point.

"Whatever. Let's get to work."

Percy pulled out his Math book, a notebook, and a pencil. He flipped to the right page, and started scribbling down some numbers.

10 minutes pass. Nothing eventful happens in the class. The bell rings, and all the students file into random seats around the room. Jason, Frank, Luke, Annabeth, and another girl were at one table. Percy, Grover, and Leo sat one table away, Nico joining them a minute later.

Several other kids entered the class, and sat down in random spots. Mrs. Chase took roll from her desk.

"Luke?"

From table one. "Hey Mrs. Chase."

"Annabeth?"

Also from table one. "Here."

"Rachel?"

A perky, cheery voice from table two. "Here."

"Nico?"

A rather quiet voice, so quiet Percy had to strain to hear him. "...Here…"

"Jason?"

Once again, from table one, "Right here."

"Thalia?"

The other girl from table one spoke up, "Here, but I don't wanna be." Scattered laughs from the class, before quieting down.

"Percy?"

Percy spoke up, "Here."

"Clarisse?"

A really muscly girl from Percy's PE almost shouted from table two, "Right here ma'am."

"Hazel?"

A quiet voice spoke up, much like Nico, from table two, "H-here ma'am."

"Piper?"

No answer.

Mrs. Chase tried again. "Piper?" Once again no answer.

Then, from the front of the class, the door sprung open. A frizzy haired girl stood in the doorway, a feather in her hair, most likely there by accident.

"Righ- huff huff- right here, Mrs. Chase."

Piper stumbled in, hair frizzy, and sat down next to Jason at table one. Mrs. Chase did not look happy, but accepted the tardiness.

"Reena?"

"It's Reyna, ma'am. Here."

"My apologies. Grover?"

"Here."

"Leo?"

"Right here, " said a very dark and menacing voice. Heads jerked towards Leo, but instead saw him in a poorly made Darth Vader mask, made entirely out of paper clips. He yelled out, "I USE THE FORCE!" And flung his hands forward. Two long chains of paper clips were attached to his sleeves, jerking Frank's hood backwards, causing him to fall flat on his back.

Laughter roared in the classroom, even Frank chuckled a little bit through his embarrassment. Leo sat down, admiring his handy work.

"Very funny Mr. Valdez. Please refrain from harassing students in my classroom in the future."

Leo smirked, "No promises Mrs. Chase."

Mrs. Chase sighed, "Frank?"

"Right here ma'am."

"Ok. That's it for roll. It seems that _almost_ all of you were here on time." Mrs. Chase glanced at Piper, who blushed a dark grey. "Now, it is the first day of Study Club. This is the start of the third week of school, so we'll start with introductions. I'm Mrs. Chase, the Study Club teacher. I am also one of three councilors here at Goode High. I'm here to provide a safe environment for you all to learn and socialize."

Luke interrupted with a grin, "So basically it's like a place to hang out?"

"No Mr. Castellan, I assure you, this is a place for studying as well, but you may, as you put it, 'hang out', when we have free time."

Luke just smirked, twirling a pencil in his hand.

"Back to what I was saying. The first class will be spent making sure you all have settled in alright. If you have any questions about homework or scheduling, come see me. Otherwise, you have an hour before school starts."

A hushed murmur took over the class as conversations were started. Percy started scribbling numbers again, Grover was researching for an English paper, Nico was still staring at his paper, with a few more lines written, and Leo was… Leo.

Leo had taken out a pre-half written paper and had put it in front of him, to make it look like he was doing something, when he actually wasn't. 'Quite ingenious, really, ' thought Percy.

Hazel was writing on a sheet of paper while Clarisse and Reyna talked about the same English assignment as Grover.

At table one, almost no work was getting done. Thalia was reprimanding her brother Jason about not turning in a Math assignment, despite her not turning it in either. Annabeth was at least trying to write, but Luke kept trying to hold her hand. Piper was talking to Mrs. Chase in a quiet voice, so no one could hear.

"Mrs. C, I'm concerned about Jason, " said Piper. She had a frown on her face, but had turned her back to the rest of the class.

"Why do you say that Piper?" Replied Mrs. Chase, concern in her eyes.

Piper hesitated, "Well, with him becoming the captain of the basketball team, and the Junior Varsity team wanting him next year, I'm worried that his grades will slip."

"Piper, that is probably why he is here. This is Study Club. His parents probably signed him up just for that reason."

"No, you don't understand. He has a C in two classes, and B's in the rest other than PE. If his grades get any worse, he won't be able to play. The only reason he's here is because Luke said it would be extra time with me. Can you help him?"

Mrs. Chase gazed into Piper's eyes, "I will try. I can't say that he'll accept my help immediately, but I'll see what I can do."

Piper sagged in relief, "Thanks Mrs. C"

Athena Chase nodded, then scribbled down some notes on a notepad.

 _Check in with Jason. Offer extra study time._

In the relative quietness of the classroom, a loud yelp shattered the quietness. Heads turned towards table one. Thalia and Jason were staring at Annabeth, as well as the rest of the class. Her face turned a darker grey, blushing. Luke was right next to her, holding in a laugh quite poorly.

Everyone slowly went back to work, but not without a fair amount of strange looks towards Annabeth. The still blushing girl turned towards Luke, "Don't do that! I'm ticklish!" She whisper-yelled.

Luke grinned widely, "What, like this?" He took his hand and squeezed her thigh over her leggings. She squeaked, just quiet enough that only they heard. Annabeth blushed a darker grey and swatted his hand away.

Over at table three, Percy noticed Leo was having quite the battle with a pair of sticky notes and a pipe cleaner. "Hey, uh, Leo? You need some help?" Percy asked, not really sure if he should.

Leo perked up, "Yeah! Okay so I need you to hold the pipe cleaner flat, yeah like that. Then I take the sticky notes and stab them through, like that. Mmmhmm. Yep, then we add a few more, and two note cards for stability, and voila!"

On the table lay a pipe cleaner with five sticky notes and two note cards stabbed through it about one third of the way up. Leo then took one of his paper clip chains and attached it with a roll of duct tape.

"Wait hold on, where'd you get that?" Percy asked.

Leo smiled a smile to make a cheshire cat envious, and merely patted his tool belt. Then he locked eyes with Percy and made a 'shush' gesture with his finger.

Leo ducked down out of his chair, and crawled to table two. Hazel was on the side closer to Percy, and was too immersed in her book so she didn't notice Leo. He then tossed the mini sword back to Percy, still holding the chain.

In a magnificent show of engineering, luck, and precision, Leo managed to swing the chain through the air, sailing the sword like a kite, and stab it right through the paper that Mrs. Chase was inspecting.

Naturally, the class was in shock, most of all Mrs. Chase. Leo snickered from his new hiding spot, unfortunately louder than he meant to, and Hazel yelped when she saw a boy right next to her feet.

Leo jumped at being discovered, and slammed his head on the table, causing the shock in the classroom to break and laughter to fill the air.

Percy laughed in disbelief at the look on Mrs. Chase's face, a mixture of anger and laughter, and just decided to focus on his Math homework. Luckily, Leo was saved from further embarrassment because the bell rang, signaling the start of first period.

As Percy walked out of the class with Grover by his side, he watched all the kids in Mrs. C's room file out.

'This is gonna be one hell of a year.' Percy thought.

Oh how right he was.

* * *

 **Hey guys, Nerd here. I've been gone for a loooong time. Sorry bout that. Kinda lost motivation to write another story, but I'm back.**

 **Anyway, away with all of that negative stuff, into the mysterious questions of which I don't even know the answers to.**

 **Will Jason's grades improve or will he be kicked off of the football team and basketball team? Will Percy be able to come true about his crush with Annabeth? Will Luke make a move on Annabeth before Percy does?**

 **FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z- wait this isn't Dragon Ball.**

 **But seriously guys I'm sorry I was gone but I'm back so see ya next chapter! o/**


	2. Chapter 2

'2nd period. English. How wonderful,' snarked Percy. 'Let's see what the resident bitch has for us today.'

Percy entered the class with Grover behind him. The bell would ring in a minute, so they had time to talk. The class was filled with a five by six grid of desks, with a bookshelf on the back wall and the teacher's desk at the front.

"Did you finish your essay Perce?" Grover asked, pulling a sheet of paper from a binder.

"Shit, no. I had to finish my redo work so I can retake that math test from last week." Groaned Percy. "Well, might as well send myself out into the hall already."

The bell rang, signalling the start of class. Percy took a seat, and since there wasn't a seating chart, Grover took the seat to the left of him. Different kids filed in and sat down, Reyna sat in front of Percy, and Annabeth across the class with the redhead, Rachel.

The teacher walked in, Mrs. Roan. She was a frail woman in her seventies, but had the death glare of, well, death. She was not nice by any means.

"Alright, settle down. Everyone here?" Mrs. Roan took count, noting that all the students were present. "Good. Now, who finished the essay over Shakespeare?" All but Rachel, Percy, and a few other kids raised their hands.

"How wonderful, alright. Since we're going over this in class, all of you out. I don't want to hear a peep out of you." The woman glared as the students left. "Ok, who would like to volunteer their essay to use as an example? Mrs. Chase, thank you…"

The door shut as the last kid left the class. There were five of them. They split up separately, and sat down along the lockers to work on other class's assignments or read.

Percy took a seat down the hall, the farthest from the door. He cracked open his binder and pulled out a sheet of paper, then powered on his laptop. As the gray glow powered up, someone sat next to him, a few feet away. He paid no mind, and loaded up his doc for the english essay.

"Hey, Percy, right? Whatcha doin'?" Asked the person next to him. He looked over, it was Rachel.

"Oh, I'm finishing the essay that was due today. Might as well see if I can get a grade for whatever I have right now." Replied Percy, showing two and a half paragraphs.

Rachel nodded, and turned back to her laptop.

A few minutes pass, which turns into ten, then fifteen. Percy started to get impatient. He had finished his essay by now, and was just waiting to be let in. He hoped Grover would be sneaky enough for what he had planned.

 _Percy: Yo, what time are they letting us back in_

 _Grover: End of class. Said teach u lesson._

 _Percy: . . ._

That was the end of the conversation. Percy sighed, 'I guess I'll have to get a grade on this later.' He packed up his laptop and opened up Instagram, swiping through the feed.

"Percy, what are you doing?" said Rachel in a hushed whisper.

"Grover said she's not letting us back in for the rest of class. Might as well have some fun out here." Percy shrugged.

She was taken aback, then packed up her laptop as well, and stood.

"Woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?" Asked Percy, reflexively standing up as well.

"You said it yourself, might as well have some fun."

She strolled right down the hallway, backpack in hand, right away from the classroom. Percy watched her go, then shrugged and followed.

He lightly jogged to catch up, and came to a calm stroll through the Goode High halls. There weren't any teachers on patrol, given the understaffing problem. The pair had free reign of the halls.

"So what's the plan? Walk around til we get bored?" Percy questioned, looking around for any students.

"Well I was thinking we could do something else." Rachel trailed off, smiling slightly and locking eyes with Percy.

"L-like what?" Percy gulped. 'Is this happening?' He mentally screamed.

"I know a place, where it would be you and me and no one else. For thirty seven minutes you'll have me to yourself." She gave Percy doe eyes, and sashayed her hips away, taking a left through a maintenance closet. Percy nearly sprinted after her.

He entered the closet, shutting it quietly behind him. 'No one saw. Right? There was no one in the halls.' He reassured himself.

"Percy." A murmur from the darkness.

Percy flipped the lightswitch, revealing Rachel with her oversized sweater falling off one shoulder. Percy gulped, but stepped forward.

"What do you want to do with me Percy? Just say the word." Rachel breathed, running one finger down her collarbone and another down Percy's chest.

He stuttered for a few seconds, before recovering, "I want to see where this goes. Where _we_ go." He breathed.

Rachel smiled, "Let's see then." She pulled her sweater over her head, revealing a tight tank top, which revealed her light midriff when she rose her hands. Rachel caught his stare, "Like what you see?" She smirked, a gray blush starting to form on her cheeks.

"Y-yeah." Was the only response he could form. His hands reflexively went forward, grabbing onto her hips and pulling her forwards. Their bodies touched, temperature rising.

Their lips locked, Rachel clearly more experienced. Percy froze for a moment, not sure what to do. She moved her lips against his, signalling a groove to get into. He followed suit, matching pace.

Percy's hands tentatively went down the length of her body, resting against her ass. A flare of heat went through Percy, and he knew he was blushing a deep gray.

Rachel inhaled deeply, then proceeded down Percy's neck, and onto his collarbone. She latched her mouth onto his light skin and bit down lightly. He gasped, "Rachel!"

She smirked, knowing he was turned on now, and moved to grab his belt buckle. He caught her hands.

"My turn." Percy declared, then, in a fit of passion, stripped off her tank top.

A medium gray bra covered most of her breasts, revealing a small amount of cleavage. Rachel blushed harder, and almost covered herself before Percy interrupted, "Stop. You're beautiful, even a blind man can see that."

She smiled, and looked away, before Percy lightly squeezed through her bra, and planted a kiss firmly on her shoulder. Rachel gasped loudly, too loudly, but neither of them cared. Percy worked his way down her shoulder, and made a dark gray hickey just above her cleavage.

RING RING RING

They both froze. Breathing hard, Percy picked up Rachel's scattered clothes and handed them to her.

"Thanks." She breathed, hurriedly putting on her outfit.

"Anytime." Percy replied with a stupid grin on his face. She laughed, and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Consider this a parting gift." Rachel said, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Although, I must say. I don't want it to be the last."

Percy blushed. He rubbed the back of his head, but said nothing. He peeked out of the door, "Coast is clear."

She smiled and passed him out the door, rubbing his chest when she passed. Percy grinned a wide smile as he walked to his next period, math. Any person who saw him would've labeled him as a mad man with the evil grin he was wearing, but Percy didn't care.

* * *

Percy took a seat in the math classroom, once again next to Grover. The smile was still on his face, although slightly subdued. Frank was also in his math, sitting behind Percy.

"What's with the smile Perce? All you've done today is piss off Mrs. Roan, I don't think that's enough for that smile." Inquired Grover, a secret smile on his face.

"Nothing G-Man, don't worry. Today took a turn for the better, so let's be glad about that."

Grover accepted it, and pulled out his notebook. Percy did as well. Percy opened up his notebook to the right page, ready to show Mrs. Ross that he actually had his re-assessment work.

Mrs. Ross walked in, a woman in her mid thirties, very curly blonde hair, and a light look on her face. She took stance at the podium in front of the class, and then started her rounds.

Mrs. Ross walked around in a snake pattern, checking to make sure every student had their homework done. It was completion graded, so Percy had one of his old assignments ready to show her, so she would accept it and move on.

"Mrs. Ross, here's my redo for the test from last week. Is there a time I can retake it?" Percy asked, hoping it would be today. He really needed to get a C by the end of the week.

"Yes, come in during your lunch period, bring your food as well. I'll have the test for you and you can go back to the cafeteria if you finish." The kind woman responded, a smile on her face.

Percy sighed with relief, 'Maybe my grade in this class will be a strong C+ by the end of this year.' He mentally laughed, 'As if.'

Class passed by quickly, a relief to many. Many had simply zoned out the lesson taught, including Percy, Grover, and surprisingly enough Annabeth, though for a different reason than the majority of the class.

'When will this class end!' Annabeth almost yelled aloud. She angrily scratched down a few fake notes on what Mrs. Ross was saying, when really she just scribbled a zig-zag taking the entirety of the line.

'This class is so easy. I get it, a squared plus b squared equals c squared. I learned this like two years ago!' She continued to rage. Annabeth tugged again on her leggings, feeling strange ever since Luke that morning. She remembered, 'What? Like this?' Then he grabbed her thigh.

'It wasn't meant to be harmful was it? Surely he meant it as a joke, with maybe a little feeling. Did he like her? That could be a reason,' She blabbed to herself. 'Maybe he does.'

Annabeth once again pulled on her leggings, tugging them farther upwards as they began to drag. 'Yeah. My leggings are just sagging is all, nothing else.' She reassured herself.

A paper ball landed on her desk, originating from a desk slightly behind her and to her right. Her head jerked back, looking for anyone suspicious, and saw Percy Jackson looking back at her.

Annabeth looked strangely at her, but opened up the note as quietly as she could.

 _You okay? You look kinda uncomfortable._

She froze. 'No, I'm perfectly fine.' She thought, and wrote the same thing on the paper. Discretely, she looked around, luckily there were some kids absent today, and she tossed it back.

Percy opened the note again, reading what was inside. He frowned, scribbled some words on it, and tossed it back.

 _I don't believe that in the slightest. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here._

Annabeth was only slightly comforted by the gesture, but wrote her message, and tossed it back.

 **I don't need anyone to talk to. I'm fine, really.**

Percy snorted to himself.

 _Whatever you say. Just remember the offer._

RING RING RING

The class shuffled out of the room just as Annabeth read the last message. She looked up to see where he had gone, but the class was empty.

"Percyyyy, I see you with Annabeth. You tryna make a move?" Grover crowed, a smirk on his face.

"Shut up man. She didn't look so well so I asked what was wrong. That's it."

"Whatever you say."

Percy tried to ignore how the last statement reflected his last note to Annabeth, but couldn't ignore the irony in that statement.

Grover went his separate way, and Percy went to PE. Percy entered the locker room to get changed, only to find utter madness.

Leo, as always, had done something spectacular. This time he had rigged what looked to be six bottles of Axe body spray in a ball, where the terrible smelling odor was being sprayed in every direction. It was hanging by a string of paperclips, Percy was noticing a recent pattern, and was spinning like a disco ball.

In fact, it was shooting off different shades of gray like a disco ball as well. Percy still wasn't sure how that was possible, but he sprinted to the corner of the room as fast as he could.

"Oh, hey Percy!" Frank yelled over the madness. They were both ducked in the farthest corner, with a locker door open to hide behind.

Before Percy could respond, a voice came through a megaphone, specifically from the Coach's office, where it was perfectly safe. The voice was muffled slightly, but it was clear enough to hear.

"What _wonderful_ weather we're having here folks! Looks like cloudy with a chance of bad smell to me. Be careful however! There have been sightings of a terrible monster in the storm, it could destroy the storm, and the area around it too! Be careful!"

Leo.

The lights started flashing faster and faster, until an air horn was sounding from the middle of the ball made of gas. It got louder and louder, until the entire thing fell apart and everyone's ears were ringing.

A faint cry was heard from the office, where Coach Hedge was holding Leo by the back of the shirt.

"Well. Hi Frank. How's your day going?"

* * *

Class actually began about twenty minutes later. All the boys weren't dressed out, because of the madness in the locker room, but the girls dressed as normal.

Coach Hedge gave the workout for the day, "Alright listen up! Today there'll be three stations, each with an equal amount of you at them. Station one is twenty five jumping jacks and twenty sit ups. Station two is fifteen pushups and twenty crunches. Station three is full sprint for one minute, jog for thirty seconds, and walk for thirty seconds back and forth across the gym. Understood?!" Ordered Hedge. He also spoke with a megaphone, however he didn't cover the 'weather' like Leo.

Coach Hedge pulled up his megaphone again, "Oh, and Valdez!" Leo perked up, "Every number I just said is tripled for you. Go!"

Leo whined and moaned for the rest of the class period, especially when having to do situps with his tool belt on, but he didn't directly object. However, Percy was in a predicament.

The groups were about ten people each. He had hoped to get Frank or Leo in his group, but no dice. He was stuck with seven random people he had never met, Rachel, and Annabeth.

Percy was in a pickle.

Annabeth had been his crush for a long time, almost in a romantic way, but Rachel was a fiery passion that heated him up when he was cold.

History or chemistry, what to choose?

"Percy! Percy!" Rachel yelled, right in front of his face.

He jerked back, tripping over a free weight and falling flat on his ass. "Huh, I'm awake, I swear!" Percy protested, despite having done nothing for the past minute.

"C'mon, get up. We're moving to the next station." She rolled her eyes, and helped him up.

Rachel leaned close, "Now, unless you want to almost get caught staring at Annabeth's ass while doing jumping jacks, I suggest you wake up. You had a staring contest, and you won."

Percy's mouth fell open. "I didn't mean anything like that, I just zoned out!" He protested.

"Yeah yeah, I'll take it for now. One more time though, and it's going to be much harder to get some of this again." Rachel gestured towards her ass, and sashayed away.

'She has a habit of doing that. I'm not entirely opposed to it though.' Percy thought, and jogged up to the rest of the group.

The class passed relatively quickly, until Percy felt that he had to bring something up with Rachel, "Rache, what are we?"

"Ooh, it's Rache now? I like it."

"You dodged the question." Pointed out Percy.

"Well, what do you think we are?" Rachel answered.

Percy thought for a second, then responded, "I mean, I want you and me to be something more than friends, but I don't think it counts as boyfriend and girlfriend if we haven't gone on a date."

Rachel had a hint of a smile on the corners of her lips, "Oh? So what are you implying Jackson?"

"Would you like to go out with me, Rachel Elizabeth Dare?"

"I would love to." She responded.

Percy sagged with relief, "That's a relief, I've been thinking about it all period but couldn't decide if I should."

"Percy, I won't lie. You're really good looking. You have a nice face, good hair, and beautiful eyes. I've always had a crush on you, which is why I was so forward earlier in second period. There was no way I would say no to that."

Percy blushed a dark grey, and stuttered out a, "T-than-ks."

Class went on as normal from then on, but someone overheard the entire conversation. Annabeth was confused. Percy had been so nice to her, comforting and supportive, even when she had pushed him away. Was he playing her? Trying to pick the easy girl? She didn't say yes to talking to him and the next period he was dating a girl.

Annabeth fumed, 'Percy Jackson, you sly bastard. You can't fool a Chase.'

RING RING RING

PE was dismissed, and all the girls went to go get changed, while the boys went straight to their next classes. Percy came alongside Leo, ready for their next class. Science.

The class was interesting for Percy. The teacher was Mr. Ross, Mrs. Ross' husband. It was Percy's favorite class, just because he got to watch things explode and cool stuff. It was also different because Percy actually had an A in that class.

The class settled in, all at lab benches around the edges of the classroom. Today was Monday, which meant a lab to do. Mr. Ross was the fun teacher who made class interesting, and he wanted to cheer up everyone's Mondays with a little science.

Roll was taken quickly, and Mr. Ross got down to business.

"Hey y'all! Okay, so to get right to it, we gotta long lab today, so let's all hurry and see the end of the lab. If everyone finishes I might let y'all out a bit early." He said with a conspiratorial wink. "The instructions are on the board, don't forget yer lab coats, goggles, and gloves too. Roll up yer sleeves as well."

Percy smiled at the accent Mr. Ross had. It was often the butt of jokes in the class, but it was all light hearted and everyone laughed.

Percy was partnered with Leo, who was already stirring a bottle of an unlabeled chemical with a bendy straw.

"Um Leo," Percy tentatively said. "Hmm?" Percy looked at the chemical with some amount of fear, "I don't think whatever that is will react well with other chemicals, taking into account that it's unlabeled, potentially contaminated with plastic, and it slowly turning different shades of gray.."

Leo stopped, and took a good look at the beaker, "Ah, yes it's working."

Percy stopped, but decided not to question it, and got started on the actual instructions.

The minutes flew by, Percy working painstakingly on a project assigned for two people, and taking notes for both of them, and Leo was hard at work with his mysterious liquid, and was experimenting with a bunsen burner to see what would happen.

"Ooooh, pretty." Admired Leo, gazing at the beaker. It now had two layers, one significantly light gray, and the other an almost black.

Percy once again made the smart decision and didn't question Leo's methods to insanity.

The class was about half over when Leo finished what he was doing.

"Ah HAH!" Leo yelled. The class suddenly got much quieter, and Leo shrunk back into his seat. "What's up Leo?" The elfish boy grinned, and held up a 'stop' sign with his hand. Percy sighed, but went back to work.

Leo pulled some materials out of his belt. Approximately two and three quarters inches squared of card stock paper, seven pipe cleaners, all different shades of gray, giving them a unique look, a thin clear tube, and one very specifically shaped slingshot.

One made specifically for a test tube.

Leo quickly got to work, strapping together the cardstock around the test tube in a cylinder to cover it, and then secured it with the pipe cleaners. He then took the clear pipe and fed it into the test tube, which was yet to be filled with something.

Lastly, Leo poured his mystery liquid into the test tube through the pipe, and grinned madly at Percy.

Then he threw it, as hard as he could.

More specifically, he strapped the end of the clear pipe to a beaker, and then placed the test tube in the slingshot. When he launched the test tube, it flung away with surprising speed. The beaker was pulled with it, and was launched through the air, landing perfectly on the shelf above one of the lab benches.

The beaker had managed to land so that the pipe ended facing with its exit downwards, and the test tube above it, landing on some text books.

The liquid flowed out of the pipe, right onto Jason Grace's head.

As it turned out, Leo had been lying about the liquid the entire period. All he did was have two liquids, one that would change color depending on temperature and different variables, and the second, which actually went into the test tube.

The liquid covered Jason's light gray hair completely, soaking his head. He reached up, after a yell of shock, and tried to swipe the majority of the liquid off, which had piled on the crown of his head.

His actions had unexpected consequences.

Hair came out in very large clumps, a dark gray thanks to the liquid. Jason, naturally, freaked out, and sprinted to the nearest bathroom.

Leo cracked up, as did the entire class. Mr. Ross stood up and tried, with lots of difficulty, to address the issue without laughing. Needless to say, he didn't even get a word out before a completely bald Jason Grace ran, screeching, through the door.

The entire class burst into raucous laughter, only further embarrassing Jason. He hung his now gleaming head in shame, and left the classroom. Mr. Ross recovered, eventually, from his laughing fit, and made a call to the office to make sure Jason either got home safely, or got to his next class on time.

Mr. Ross gave up on making the class focus, and gave them the entire period.

"Leo, you're a damn genius." Percy said, amazed.

"I know." Leo grinned, "And you wanna know the best part?"

"What's that?"

"No one knows it was me."

Percy laughed out loud at that statement, and gave Leo one hell of a fist bump for that amazing class period.

RING RING RING

Percy grabbed his backpack and cleaned up his station, then headed out the door. Somehow, he knew that Study Club had made one hell of an effect on his life, and so far, he loved it.

* * *

 **Alrighty I'm back with another chapter. Not quite as long as the first but almost. Thanks for the follows and favorites by the way!**

 **Now I'm off to another dimension, where there aren't any unfinished fanfics, and every story has no spelling or grammatical errors. Peace! o/**


	3. Chapter 3

RING RING RING

The bell to fifth period sang, everyone taking seats. Spanish class had started, with the teacher missing, Mr. Perkins.

Nico de Angelo sat alone. He fiddled with a small figuring of a child's game, holding it in one hand, then passing it to the next.

Nico was wearing a long, black jacket with dark gray jeans. His light skin contrasted heavily, his skin unhealthily pale. He pulled out a single pencil from his bag, and a sheet of paper.

All others around him were leaned over their desks talking to friends across the room or right next to them. Away from Nico.

There was one exception, however.

While Percy and Grover were making small talk across the room while waiting for the teacher to arrive, Frank Zhang sat in the seat in front of Nico, reading out of a _very_ thick book.

Mr. Perkins yanked the door open, speed walking to his desk while carrying a coffee.

"My apologies class, the coffee machine was broken and I was the only one who could fix it." The man explained, shuffling some papers around. "Here are your tests, graded last night. You have a few minutes to review and ask questions, otherwise we'll start with the assignment for today."

The tests were passed out quickly, everyone knowing what 'assignment' was in store for today. It was, A: Monday, meaning Mr. Perkins once again stayed up late on Saturday night watching fútbol, as he put it. B: It was the school day after a test, meaning Mr. Perkins stayed up late grading on Sunday night.

All of this meant that everyone had a free period, while Mr. Perkins attempted to take a nap.

"No questions? Well then, let's get started."

He pressed the spacebar on his computer, firing up the projector after that. Mr. Perkins took a seat, yelling out a simple, "Luces!" before promptly closing his eyes.

The lights were turned off, and the projector on. No one really paid attention, but the movie 'Shrek' was running in Spanish, with English subtitles.

Nico, startled by the lights suddenly disappearing, dropped his figurine on the ground. Nico cursed quietly, but before he could grab it, another hand snatched it up.

Frank looked at the figurine with a strange stare, before offering it back to Nico, "I didn't know you played Mythomagic." He stated.

"I did when I was younger." Nico coldly replied, snatching the figurine from Frank.

There was a moment of silence, except for the occasional snore from Mr. Perkins and the loud outburst from the movie.

"Do you still?"

Nico looked up, "What?"

Frank explained, "Do you still play?"

"No. It's a child's game."

Another moment of silence.

"I don't think so. It's a game of strategy and numbers. No child can do the math necessary for that game."

Nico looked up again, trying to hide his interest in the topic, "You sound like you speak from experience." Nico stated more than asked.

"So what if I do?"

"Nothing of it, I guess."

It was the end of the conversation. Frank looked upset at the abrupt end, but turned around. Nico went back to staring into his figurine.

"Hades isn't that good you know. Poseidon is better." Frank smirked, matter of factly.

Nico looked up again, not even noticing Frank turnaround.

"No he definitely isn't. Hades has an automatic skeleton minion spawn, with a one in five chance to spawn a specialty minion. Poseidon has, what, little horsies? I don't think so." Nico finished, then realizing what he said.

Frank piped up, "So you _do_ play! I knew it!"

Nico sighed, twirling the figurine of Hades in his fingers, "And once again, so what if I do?"

"Well now that I know you play for sure, I've got to challenge you!"

Nico deadpanned, (with the exact same amount of emotion he had for the entire class), "What."

"I have the goal to become the best Mythomagic player in the world, but since there aren't any official tournaments, I've got to stick to local stuff."

Nico responded with a flat face, "Uh huh."

"I'm not lying!" Lied Frank, "I've beaten every opponent I've faced, and you're not gonna be the exception!"

Nico smirked, "Alright. I accept. After school today?"

"Sure." Frank said, then turned around.

As soon as he turned around, Frank paled from a healthy gray to worse than Nico. 'What did I just agree to?'

Meanwhile, Percy was having the time of his life. Not really, but it was pretty close, only topped by second period that day…

'Bad! Stop thinking about it!' Percy yelled at himself. He sighed as he felt his pants grow tighter, 'Ugh I need to stop doing this to myself,'

That was not what was so amazing for Percy, however. He was actually playing Angry Birds, and had just beaten a new level.

'Sweet! Star Wars birds look cool.' Percy laughed at himself, but continued stalling until the end of class.

Grover clicked his tongue sadly, trying to go over his Social Studies notes, 'When will he learn to take responsibility?' He asked himself, but went back to studying.

RING RING RING

Spanish always passed quickly, mostly because Mr. Perkins almost never gave homework and just read from a textbook for the lesson.

Percy grabbed his bag, stuffing his phone in his pocket, and walked alongside Grover to lunch.

Entering the cafeteria was always a blast. Since the Spanish classroom was one of the farthest away from the cafeteria, they were one of the last classes to arrive. Leo had already taken a seat at their dedicated table, so Percy and Grover took seats next to him.

"Whatcha workin' on now Leo?" Percy questioned, already awaiting a catastrophe in the cafeteria.

"Oh nothin' much. It's actually my project for ELP*." Leo responded.

"Wow, an educational project being worked on by Leo? What universe is this?" Grover laughed, Percy joining in.

"Oh ha ha, have your laughs now, but I'll be the next John Deere, just you wait." Leo glared, although even he had a glimmer of humor in his eyes.

Nico quietly sat down, leaving two seats open. He uttered no greeting, but everyone was used to it by now.

More students filed in through the doors on either side of the giant room. As always, there were too many chairs crowded around the popular table, Luke, Jason, Frank, Annabeth, Piper, and Thalia at the center of it all.

Frank looked slightly uncomfortable to some, but assumed it was the tight space that was bothering him. He was actually concerned that he was going to be caught in his lie about being good at Mythomagic.

Luke yelled a profane joke quite loudly, causing the table to erupt in laughter. Since there were about thirteen to fourteen people at one table meant for six, the noise was really loud.

The teacher on duty walked over and calmed down the commotion, but no one really paid any attention. It even seemed like the teacher knew that they would be loud all lunch period.

Percy sighed in resignation at the hooting and hollering coming from a table ten feet away, and yet it sounded like it was inside his head. He went back to going through Snapchat when another person sat down at their table.

"Heya Perce." Rachel smiled, rubbing her hand on his thigh under the table.

Percy smiled nervously, "Hey Rache, guys this is Rachel Dare, my sort of-girlfriend."

"Percy, not to be rude or anything, but you can't have a 'sort of-girlfriend'." Laughed Leo, eyes never leaving his mixture of notecards and scotch tape.

"Okay okay, we're dating, but we haven't gone on a date yet so it isn't official." Percy explained, "Which I don't think we have scheduled yet, Rache. How about after school on Wednesday, maybe see a movie?"

"That would be exquisite." Rachel accepted in a posh accent.

Their section was dismissed to go get food, so they walked up together, grabbing food, and then maneuvering their way back to the table.

Another uproar of laughter came from the same table as always, then a part of a piece of pizza flew across the lunchroom. Once again, the teacher went to handle the problem.

"God they're so damn annoying." Rachel muttered, glaring at the table in its entirety.

"Tell me about it, we've sat next to them for two years in a row by pure chance." Percy griped around a bite of pizza.

Grover snatched Percy's apple from his tray without him noticing, "Yeah, my hearing in my right ear hasn't been the same ever since the first day."

Lunch continued, relatively quiet at Percy's table. Eventually Percy got up, having to go to the bathroom. He asked for permission from the teacher, then walked out.

Percy navigated his way through the halls, then into the bathroom to relieve himself. Finishing up, he buckled his belt, and when turning around, saw Luke Castellan.

"Hey Perce." Luke said, with no positive emotion.

"Hi Luke." Percy responded, then tried to move around him.

Luke stepped in front of his way, "Ah ah ah, not so fast. I heard from Annabeth about a thing that happened. You tried to make a move on her, huh?"

Percy was shocked, "What? No! I have a girlfriend, I wouldn't do that to her or you." He protested.

"Oh yeah, I heard about your little friend. Rachel Dare, was it? She's easy, but I guess you can't do better. Now here's the thing, you hurt Annabeth earlier, so you're at fault."

"What did I even do? I don't understand!" Percy protested, then was shoved into a wall.

"You made Annabeth think she was known as easy, you think that's funny? You tried to make a move on her in math and then when she didn't respond, you moved on to the next easy bitch. She told me the whole story."

Percy was taken aback, "I didn't mean anything by it, I swear!"

Luke snorted, "Very likely story," then grabbed Percy by the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the bathroom.

Outside were two of Luke's henchmen, too stupid and too dumb to do anything by themselves, but listened to orders.

"Follow me." Luke ground out to Percy, fist clenched.

Percy didn't move, but was shoved from behind by one of the two guys, and followed reluctantly.

He was lead into a maintenance closet, filled with cleaning chemicals and a broom. Luke turned around when the door was shut, and launched a right hook directly into Percy's cheek.

Percy fell to the ground, knocking over a bottle of some chemical, before he was kicked hard in the stomach. He wheezed, trying to move away, but was kicked right in the ribs for a second time.

Luke gestured to the henchmen, and Percy was picked up and held upright. He had a cut cheek and was bent over in pain.

"Please, st- ahg -op." Percy coughed, holding his torso.

Luke sniffed, then slammed his fist into the same place, knocking Percy into the guys behind him. He was shoved forward into Luke's foot, right in the middle of his stomach. Percy collapsed to the ground.

Luke leaned close to Percy, whispering in his ear, "Ever mess with Annabeth again, you won't be able to get up."

The door was opened, then shut, and Percy was left alone on the ground.

Percy rolled over on his back, groaning at the effort alone. He reached up, dabbing at his cheek. It came away sticky and a dark gray.

"Shit." Percy groaned, and laid his head on the ground to rest.

Eventually Percy rose, very slowly however, and grabbed a towel from a shelf nearby. He dabbed at his face again, wincing at the sharp movement. Percy pulled the towel away, slightly darker, but less so. 'At least it's going away.' Percy reasoned.

He tried to straighten up to look for a trash can, but doubled over and wheezed loudly. Percy held his ribs, trying to breathe, 'God something has to be bruised.'

He recovered slowly, but shuffled to a trashcan in the corner and stuffed the towel to the bottom, covering it with paper towels. Percy used his phone's camera to look at his cheek. A dark gray slash, about the length of his thumb, stretched across his cheek. It had stopped leaking blood, but still hurt badly.

Percy took as deep of a breath as possible, and shuffled towards one of the shelves, looking for a band aid.

'C'mon, c'mon.' Percy thought, wincing as he had to stand up straight to see the top shelf. 'Ah hah, there you are.' He thought victoriously.

Percy unwrapped a band aid and carefully covered the cut, then shuffled out of the room.

Entering the cafeteria, lunch was still going on, but it was nearing the end of the free period. Percy walked somewhat normally, a small slouch the only sign that he had been beaten, and sat down at the table.

"Oh my God Percy what happened?" Rachel exclaimed, carefully looking over the cut on his cheek.

"It's nothing, tripped and got a small cut on the door in the bathroom. Ribs kinda hurt too though, I think I bruised something." Percy said, holding his side.

"Geez Perce, I knew people could trip once in awhile but this is something serious." Said Grover, munching thoughtfully on his own apple.

"I'm fine. Really. Just an accident." Percy said, hoping to reassure their fears.

"If you say so." Grover accepted.

Nico looked on with hidden thoughts. 'The walls in the bathroom are smooth, and the walls for the stalls are an even smoother plastic. What happened to you, Percy?' Nico thought, but kept his thoughts to himself.

RING RING RING

The bell dismissed everyone to their next class, Percy waving goodbye to Leo, Grover, and Rachel. He came alongside Nico, walking to their next class, Social Studies.

As they were walking through the halls, dodging and weaving through the crowds of people stalling until the next bell, Percy locked eyes with Luke.

Luke glared hard at Percy, rubbed his right fist, then walked away, shoving Jason playfully.

Percy shook his head, still holding his ribs, and continued walking to his next class. He didn't see Nico witness the whole encounter.

Percy took a seat, sighing with relief after being able to rest his ribs. He sat back in his seat, taking the pressure off of his ribs. He looked around the class.

Nico was sitting next to him, fiddling with the same old figurine as always. Jason was across the room, talking animatedly with Piper. Thalia was sitting on the desk next to him, which was interesting because she was missing from science earlier.

Mrs. Platt walked in, a woman with black hair in her early thirties. She walked in and sat down at her desk, counting the students and making sure everyone was present.

Mrs. Platt stood, beginning her small lesson before the video. Percy zoned out, thinking about random things, just waiting for the day to be over.

'C'mon, two more hours, almost there.' Percy reasoned, trying to keep his eyes open. He really tried, but eventually gave up and fell asleep.

RING RING RING

Percy jerked awake, seeing kids packing up around him. Nico looked at him with a small smirk on his face, before wiping his face clean of emotion.

Percy stood quickly, cringing after he remembered his bruised ribs. Curiously, he looked down his shirt to see what kind of marks he had.

A gigantic bruise covered the entirety of his stomach, 'Oh dear God. I can't let anyone see this.'

Percy just grabbed his bag, then walked out of the classroom. Just before he turned to walk to his next class, he called out to Nico, "Did I miss anything important in class Nico?"

Nico turned, surprised at the sudden exclamation, "No, Platt just showed a video about WWI. There isn't any homework." Then he turned and walked away.

Percy sighed with relief, and began his long trek to the band room.

8th hour band was always a treat. Everyone was ready to leave, especially on Mondays or Fridays. The teacher, Mr. Harris, was a nice man. He understood that the day was almost over, and was, or had to be, patient with the class.

Percy walked into the attached locker room, pulling out his trumpet and mouthpiece. Quickly grabbing his folder and assembling his trumpet, he sat down in his assigned seat.

Percy was the eighth trumpet, which wasn't bad, but wasn't good either considering that there was still 7th hour band to account for.

Grover was the second clarinet, which Percy thought was legendary, but Grover said it wasn't hard since the rest of the section was terrible.

Annabeth (Percy flinched just thinking her name) was the first flute. It wasn't much of a surprise, considering that she actually practiced her instrument, unlike the great majority of the band.

Leo was also a trumpet player, just a few seats behind Percy. Leo didn't do much playing, and when he did, he had put some special ending on his trumpet to make it sound like anything from a duck to a wild wombat.

Rachel was actually a trombone player, which surprised some, and was third chair, which surprised a lot. She was the only girl in her section, which mad things interesting when she moved up a chair and the section made fun of who got beaten by saying they got beaten by a girl.

Piper was also a flute player, but wasn't as good as Annabeth, and was fifth chair. She, like Leo, didn't do much playing, and spent most of her time trying to sneakily text someone when her phone was hidden on her stand.

Mr. Harris took his stance on the giant step, holding his hands in the air.

"B flat scale." He said, then gave the downbeat.

No one should have been surprised when a specific trumpet started playing the Imperial March. Mr. Harris smiled, but continued, just to see how much Leo could play, and play he did. When the scale was finished, every eye was on Leo as he played the entirety of the song, all with his paper clip Darth Vader mask on.

As Leo finished the song, Mr. Harris spoke up, "Thank you, Mr. Valdez, for your amazing performance. However, I must ask you to stick to what we are playing as a group."

Leo just grinned, "No promises Mr. Harris."

The teacher sighed, but let it go. The rest of class passed without incident, although Percy had to throw four too many paper balls to get Leo to stop building a full length sword.

RING RING RING

Percy cheered to himself and hurriedly put his trumpet away. He grabbed his bag, and came up next to Grover, who was waiting at the door.

"We made it through Monday, congrats Perce!" Grover cheered, high fiving Percy.

They both laughed, and started walking towards their part of town. While the walk was quite long, they both made the walk just to see the sights.

Seeing the world in gray made everything else a little bit sweeter. Food tasted better, smells more intense, touch all the more sensitive. It was amazing.

Alexander Albert Lehman did do other things with his money and fame, after the whole debacle. He built himself a private home out in the country, invested, became a billionaire overnight.

There were some suspicions about some of his activities. Some claimed that they had seen him entering shady buildings late at night, and had seen him walking out with a duffel bag. No one had persecuted with these claims however, and the man had continued with life as normal.

Percy waved goodbye to Grover as they split directions, and Percy hurried his pace back to his apartment complex. He waved his thanks to a cab driver when he stopped for him, and jogged across the street.

Percy put his hand to his side as he finished crossing, holding his still bruised side. He recovered eventually, and continued his trek back home, noticeably slower.

When Percy rounded a corner, he was struck behind the head, and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

* * *

Percy awoke to a single light bulb shining a gray light through a blindfold. His head was pounding, and his stomach had flared up again. It was hard to breathe.

He wheezed loudly when he tried to take a full breath, "Hello?"

No one answered, but a single step let Percy know someone was there. "I can hear you, why'd you take me?" Percy called out hoarsely.

Another step, closer this time. The figure spoke, "You are Percy Jackson."

Percy jerked back, "How'd you know my name?" He called out desperately.

"Your step father owes a powerful man a lot of money. You are our ransom. Gabe Ugliano has been notified, and in the occurrence that he cannot pay back his debts, you will be dedicated to our services."

Percy's jaw dropped, and he started to tear up, "We can't pay much. We're almost broke. Please." He realized something, "How long have I been here?"

"Approximately one hour twenty two minutes and thirty nine seconds. I have kept count waiting for you to awake."

Percy sighed in relief, his mom wouldn't be home until eight thirty because of her job, so he had about four hours to escape.

Percy pleaded, "Please. Let me go. I'll do anything you want, just let me go."

"It does not matter what you say. You will be released if Gabe Ugliano can pay his debts. If not, it won't matter if you are willing, because you will be dedicated to our services."

The figure took a step back, and in the shadow Percy could see the person look down at a device. A phone?

"We have received contact from Mr. Ugliano. He cannot pay your price. You are ours."

For the second time in one hour twenty four minutes and twenty seconds, Percy was knocked unconscious.

* * *

Percy woke up for a second time in a bright white room. He was dressed in a hospital gown, however this place did not look like a hospital.

An IV was fed into Percy's arm, duct taped down to his arm, which was strapped completely down. His entire body was strapped to the table, except his head, which was placed upon a hard metal surface.

Percy looked around at his surroundings. Blank walls. Blank ceiling. Blank floor. All unnaturally white. In a world filled with gray, this much absence of color was unnerving.

For a second time, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

No response, and Percy remembered where he was. 'Dammit Gabe, why'd you have to get into so much trouble?'

He looked at the IV going into his arm. There wasn't a label on the bag nor the tube. Just a clear liquid.

Percy tried again, "Hellooo?"

A clicking sound behind him, and then footsteps. The shutting of a door. Percy's heart began to race. Who was this? Where was he? What was going to happen to him? Was he safe?

Did his mom know he wasn't?

A woman stepped into view, absolutely gorgeous. Long, flowing, light gray hair, bright eyes, a shapely form…

'Dammit Percy, not now!'

She was dressed in a white lab coat, the only difference in 'color' being her shirt, which was black, her eyes, and her hair.

"Why hello there. You are one Perseus Alexander Jackson, correct?"

Percy nodded, hoping diplomacy could get him some answers.

"At least you're honest. Now, I'm Aphrodite, yes, like the Greek goddess. My parents were old fashioned." She shook her head, getting back on topic, "As to why you're here, which I'm sure you would like to ask, you are here for Operation Olympian."

Percy opened his mouth, "Wha-"

"Operation Olympian is a project run by a powerful man. He wants to discover how to make the perfect human, starting with curing this color _affliction_ that we all have."

Aphrodite took a breath, "I work for this man, and my job is to take surveys on all of our patients, making sure they are alive and, well, I can't say well because you won't be."

Percy jerked back in shock.

"Color is actually one of the least important things on my boss's list. He wants to create a superhuman, a mix between God and Man. A demigod, if you will. You will be the first of these."

Percy's eyes began to water, "Why?" was all he could manage before his voice became too choked up.

Aphrodite actually had some reaction to this. She relaxed for a moment, "Look, I'm sorry kid. I didn't know that my patients were this young."

Aphrodite gathered herself, "Now, do you know anything about your _actual_ father, like your biological one?"

Percy croaked out a simple, "No." before he laid his head back and stared into the ceiling.

She cleared her throat. 'I have to keep this kid together, he's our last chance.' She spoke, "Well, he was a marine biologist working somewhere in southern Florida.

Percy didn't even react.

Aphrodite looked closely at her patient, noting he still had a pulse.

"Maybe that was too much for one day." Then, Aphrodite walked out of the pure white room.

The room without color.

* * *

 ***ELP stands for Extended Learning Program**

 **Okay, if it looks like this story doesn't have a direction, I swear it does, just give it time bois.**

 **Anyways, review, favorite, follow, all the usual stuff. See ya'll later o/**


	4. Chapter 4

Percy woke again to another sound of a door opening. His head shook, trying to see who it was, but he couldn't reach around far enough.

Aphrodite moved into Percy's line of sight, carrying a small box. She placed it on a glass table, opening and putting on gloves.

"Please, Ms. Aphrodite, just let me go. My mom has gotta be worried." Percy pleaded, "It's not my fault. Why do I have to be punished.?"

She pursed her lips, but turned, holding a syringe, "Try not to flex, or this will hurt."

Aphrodite inserted the needle into his bicep, flushing all of the drug into his system. She turned around again, stripping off the white gloves.

"I know it isn't your fault, but I'm being forced to do this. All I am is a biochemist. I don't have the power to get you out of here."

Percy sighed, and leaned his head back. He closed his eyes, trying to clear his head, when Aphrodite spoke.

"Hey, you okay?"

Percy opened his eyes, "No I'm not okay. I'm being held captive and _drugged_ for God's sake."

Aphrodite turned, "I'm sorry?"

"Yeah you should be. You're doing _this_ to me after all," Percy snarled, pulling on his restraints.

"No, I-. Oh, I see."

Percy snorted, "Yeah, you see. My mom is probably going crazy about me, and you're holding me captive- Hey!" He interjected.

Aphrodite was typing extremely quickly into a cell phone, then shut it.

"I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt."

"What?" Was all Percy could get out before Aphrodite clicked a button on a large remote, and his world exploded into pain.

Percy screamed, his entire body burning. "What are you do-AGH-ing!" He exclaimed, tears running down his face.

Aphrodite wiped her own tears, "I'm sorry."

Percy continued to scream his voice hoarse, until he could no longer scream. He collapsed onto his platform, relaxing his previously arched back. The pain had stopped.

Percy gasped for breath, trying to recover from the body wide assault, "What - huff - did you do?"

"The first drug. The first of many. It has sequences, to make the change. We are trying to hone you, make you stronger, better. Please, understand!"

Percy stared into her eyes, his own eyes still watering, "Are you all doing this, or just them?"

Aphrodite sobbed, gathered her things, and sprinted out of the room.

He sighed, then gasped as the movement caused irritation all over his body. Percy gritted his teeth, "This is gonna be a long night," and settled in for just that.

An hour later the same thing happened. Another burst of pain that left him gasping for breath, pulling so tightly against the restraints he cut one of his wrists and bruised the other.

"Please! Stop this!" He called, then screamed again.

No one came.

Thirty more minutes passed, Percy drenched in sweat. The metal platform he laid upon was dripping in it, his hair plastered to his forehead.

The pain subsided, and when Percy was recovering, although breathing heavy, a voice spoke.

"Hey."

Percy slammed his head against his makeshift bed, "Go away Aphrodite. I don't want you here."

"Who's Aphrodite?"

Percy was taken aback, "Aren't you? The woman who put me through this God damn torture? Ring any bells?"

"Nope. I'm Fins."

He snorted, "Fins? Like the fins on a fish?"

"Yeah. That's what I am." The voice spoke, a smile in the sentence.

Percy blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Yep. I'm a fish, you're a human, and that pretty lady is crying outside my tank."

"Great. Now I'm insane. How could this day get any worse?" Percy deadpanned.

A bubbly laugh, "Actually, your day just got a lot better. You see, I'm located juuust outside your holding cell, and I've heard everything that pretty lady's got to say about you."

That caught Percy's attention, "Okay. If you are actually real, describe her. Aphrodite."

A pause, "Well, she's got pretty blue eyes, although the tears kinda ruin that, and shining blonde hair. Whadya'll call 'em? Oh yeah! She's what you two legs call a supermodel. The pretty lady's pretty pretty." The voice laughed at itself.

Percy breathed deeply, wincing at his burning skin, "What exactly is blonde? Blue?"

"... You're kidding me right? Y'all two legs don't see color?" The voice paused, then said suspiciously, "Are you sure you aren't a dog or something?"

Percy laughed despite his situation, "No, I'm a human. We don't see color, it's some 'magical force' or all that jazz. I don't believe it myself, but supposedly it's all a spell cast by a big powerful magician."

The voice laughed, "Wow, you two legs have some interesting stories."

Percy smiled. It was almost like talking to a real human… "Wait a minute, you're actually a fish?" Percy exclaimed. He winced as his hoarse voice sounded terrible to even his own ears.

"Um, yeah. Pretty sure. I ain't got two fins for nothin'."

"Then how exactly am I talking to you?" Percy questioned, then proceeded to question his sanity again.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. That whole plan to make you better was phooey. They just want to test their drugs on you to make sure they don't kill themselves. Well, except for that pretty lady. She genuinely feels bad for ya, I'm sorry to say, but she actually feels bad."

Percy paused, taking in all the information. 'Okay. So I'm basically Aquaman at this point. Fun.' He remarked to himself.

The silence continued for a while, Percy enjoying the fact that someone was stuck there with him. Meanwhile, someone was particularly worried about Percy.

Someone who wanted to help.

* * *

Frank laughed at Hazel's quiet joke. Over the past two days he had befriended Hazel, the quiet black girl from some of his classes. She had pretty light eyes, really pretty actually…

Frank shook his head, 'Not now man. Don't mess up another friendship.'

Hazel had introduced him formally to Nico, the pale kid from Spanish. While Frank and Nico has a quiet acquaintanceship, they were mostly held together by Hazel, the glue between the two.

Nico had a light smile on his face, for once not clenching onto the Hades figurine from Mythomagic. He had parted with his normal black jeans and black sweatshirt, and had opted for a pair of dark shorts with a slightly lighter sweater.

Hazel sat adjacent to both Nico and Frank, watching the Mythomagic game unfold. It was the third in three days, Nico coincidentally holding a three win streak. She watched as Nico surveyed the cards laid out, with three figurines stood up on each side.

Frank attacked one of Nico's statues with all three of his, KO'ing the enemy. Hazel cheered and clapped, a bright smile on her face.

Nico made his move, using Hades' special move to summon a skeleton army, and ended Frank's entire side, the weakened warriors falling easily.

"Ahh, well played. I'll beat you someday Neeks."

Hazel laughed brilliantly, "I _knew_ that name would catch on eventually!"

Nico shook his head, "I'm sure you'll beat me one day, oh _best player_ in all of Goode High."

Frank rubbed his head, blushing a dark gray. The trio stood up, ready to make the trip to their respective homes. They all lived relatively close to one another, and so they could all walk home from school together.

The trio walked out of the courtyard, when they heard a clacking behind them.

Frank turned, "Oh hey Grover!"

Grover breathed heavily for a moment, not used to moving that quickly on his crutches, "Hey - huff - Frank, Hazel, Nico. I - puff - 've got a question to ask you guys."

Hazel spoke, pitying the clearly out of breath boy, "Ok sure, what do you need, Grover?"

He caught his breath, "Have any of you seen Percy lately? He hasn't been at school and I was wondering if any of you had seen his around the city."

The trio shook their heads. "Why? Something wrong?" Frank asked with a furrowed brow.

"Well, he hasn't been to my house lately, and we were gonna study for his retake for math. He missed it Monday, so he was gonna do it Friday."

Frank shook his head, "Maybe he was sick. I don't really know, sorry man."

Grover half-smiled, "Nah it's fine. He was probably playing hooky for all we know." Grover lightly laughed, "Alright, well I'll see you guys tomorrow." He nodded goodbye.

Frank and Hazel waved, Nico staring contemplatively at Grover's back.

'Maybe those bruises were worse than I thought.'

Nico shook his head, and turned to catch up with the other two thirds of their group.

Grover clacked away, brow furrowed, 'Perce, what did you get yourself into now?' Grover continued home, but couldn't stop worrying for what his friend could be doing, and where he could be.

* * *

Annabeth walked into her large home, taking off her shoes at the door, and nearly sprinted upstairs. Her mom wouldn't be home for another hour since she had a staff meeting, and her dad was out of town.

Her brothers had gone with her dad as well, leaving her alone.

Or not.

Annabeth looked in her full body mirror in the corner of her room, messing with her hair, messing it up, then fluffing her shirt, and sprinted back downstairs.

Just as she got back downstairs, the doorbell rang, and she hurried to open it.

Luke had gone by his house to let his folks know he was studying at a friends house. His dad had nodded, holding a conversation over the phone, and his mom was upstairs, so he was free to go.

Luke stepped inside, "Wow, quite a place you've got here."

The elegant interior of the house was a product of her father's business as a manufactory owner, making airplane parts for commercial and other uses.

"Yeah, dad always had a knack for decoration." She responded, 'When he isn't stuffed away in the garage building his stupid airplane'.

Luke smiled, and slipped out of his shoes. He began exploring the house, near mansion. He wandered up the stairs, Annabeth closely behind.

Eventually, Annabeth got impatient and lead Luke to her room. He smiled as she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall.

She gestured to the space behind her, "This is my room."

The walls were a light gray, the bed a dark contrast. The queen size bed was large, and took up about a third of the room. A dresser was tucked in the corner, with the closet just next to that.

"Cool. Not bad looking." Luke remarked, choosing not to bring up why he had been summoned here.

Annabeth nodded, "Well, I've been meaning to tell you something."

Luke turned his head, and took a seat on the bed, "Shoot."

She took a deep breath, "Well, I've been nervous. About us. We've been friends for so long, and you're really funny, and handsome, and, well, forward. I can tell that you want… more… from us, and I haven't been open to that."

Luke's eyes widened, "Beth, I'm fine with waiting. You're not ready for a relationship, I get that."

She breathed, "No. I realize that I have feeling for you too. I've been really nervous about this, about me being… unresponsive… so I'm going to make it up to you."

Annabeth's face darkened as she summoned all her courage, and reached towards the end of her t-shirt. Luke's mouth opened, going to interrupt, but she pulled off her shirt in one swift motion.

Luke's words died in his mouth, and he was perversely grateful he didn't interrupt. A black bra contrasted greatly against her light gray skin. Her smooth stomach inflated and deflated with the extremely deep breaths she was taking.

"Wow." Luke murmured, "You're beautiful." He stood, grabbing her hands, "Annabeth, I want you to know that you never have to be pressured into anything you don't like, okay?"

She blushed a dark gray, "I know, but…"

"No buts." He interrupted, "Well, except for yours that is…" and as he said the words, he groped her rear quite forcefully, making her squeal.

" _Luke_ ," she moaned, before clutching her hands over her mouth, horrified.

Luke laughed lightly, "It's fine. Just go with the flow, Beth."

He leaned in closely, lying his lips upon hers. Annabeth responded with fervor, and increased the pace of the kiss, slipping her tongue out and pressing against his lips.

Luke was taken aback by the role of leader taken by his now girlfriend, but opened his mouth, letting her tongue explore.

The kiss heated up, the metaphorical temperature rising. Luke's shirt was thrown across the room, followed quickly by Annabeth's jeans.

Luke separated, and placed his mouth on her neck, sucking hard, then biting lightly. Annabeth moaned loudly, unrestrained this time. She arched her back as he moved lower, then to her chest.

Taking the pause to her advantage, she quickly unclipped her bra and revealed her small bust to Luke. He paused, looking up at her, "You sure?"

Annabeth nodded, biting her lip to muffle whatever was going to come next.

Well, know what comes next.

* * *

Mrs. Chase was not a woman to be trifled with. She was punctual to the cross of a 't', and strict to the dot of an 'i'. While to her students she was cordial and pleasant, anywhere outside the classroom she was a woman of scorn.

Athena was, to put it simply, smart.

She majored in teaching, following her young passion for spreading knowledge, and regretted that decision for the rest of her life.

Athena never got to pursue the vast fields of science, medicine, engineering. She was stuck in a classroom teaching students that knew a quarter of what she did.

She enjoyed her job, don't doubt that, but teaching got old quickly, and some excitement was needed. It was ironic that her least favorite student, Leo Valdez, managed to be her most favorite at the same time.

Athena slammed the door of her car, making the brisk walk up the path to her front door. She had left the meeting early after realizing it wasn't necessary for her to be there.

Fiddling with the handle, she opened the front door, before dropping her bag into the chair right inside. She stretched her hands, calling out to Annabeth.

There was no response.

Athena frowned, calling out again, "Annabeth, I'm home!"

Once again no response.

'She must have her headphones in. Never turns down the volume, no matter how many times I tell her.' Athena sighed, before making her way to Annabeth's room.

Right before she opened the door, she swore she heard a thump. Quickly, she threw open the door to see Annabeth half naked on the bed.

"Mom!" Annabeth exclaimed, "Knock once in awhile?!"

Athena averted her eyes, "I apologize, I thought I heard a noise. Just making sure you're okay." She paused, "Do you need anything from the store? I'm going out right now."

Athena did not plan to go to the store, but was smart enough to piece together what was actually going on.

"Umm- ah- sure, can you get me some Skittles?" Annabeth responded, clutching her sheets to her chest.

"Yes, I'll be back in an hour."

The door shut, Annabeth visibly relaxing at her mother's presence being out of her room, and away from Luke, who was shirtless and hidden behind her bed, on the ground.

"That was too close!" Annabeth whisper-yelled.

Luke peeked his head just above the edge of the bed. He had the widest grin on his face, "I know right, kinda exhilarating." He grinned, before dodging a thrown pillow.

"You are so crude." Annabeth laughed, pulling on her shirt.

Luke took the cue, and pulled his shirt back on over his head, "Well, I'm sorry that our fun was cut short. My house next time?"

Annabeth blushed at the thought of getting caught, "I don't think that's wise…"

"Relax, I'll make sure my dad takes a vacation with my mom in the next few days. We'll _actually_ have the house to ourselves."

She blushed a darker gray, "Well, when you put it that way, it does sound reasonable. Sure, let's do it. Text me when you get the date."

Luke nodded, then took his leave out of her room, and then her house.

Annabeth fell backwards on her bed, inhaling deeply. 'That was too close.' She told herself, 'And yet, it was kinda fun.'

She giggled in an almost too girly way, kicking her legs in the air, 'He's _really_ muscular too.'

* * *

Athena sighed as she got back in her car. She knew this would happen one day, her daughter getting a boyfriend. She just wished Annabeth would tell her beforehand, so nothing like this would happen.

She sighed again, then started her car, and began the drive to the store, 'Might as well pick up something to cover that hickey on her neck.'

* * *

Percy wiggled his toes again. No pain.

He smiled, the drug was finally done.

Then he frowned, the only strange ability he gained from that _abomination_ was talking to fish, which was pretty cool, but it wasn't really that 'superhuman', and he definitely didn't feel like a demigod.

While he was trapped in his prison, he decided to at least try out whatever new abilities he got.

The first thing he did was try to teleport. With all of his focus, he tried forcing his mind through the wall behind him and out the door. Unfortunately, when he focused that hard, all he did was fart, much to the amusement of Fins. He was put off of motivation at that point, and gave it a rest.

It didn't last long.

The long hours of confinement and no interaction were very, _very_ boring. With nothing to do, he tried again, although with a different power.

Fire, it was always the coolest in Percy's mind. Hottest as well, when he thought about it. He focused on his hand, trying to summon fire straight from it.

It worked.

Of course it didn't, why in the world would you believe that? It did do something, however.

Deep within Percy's gut, he felt a tug. Suddenly, the IV bag to the left of him started floating. Percy stared, eyes wide. It slowly moved across the gap between him and the stand it was on previously.

The door opened.

"Percy!" Aphrodite whispered, "They've come for you!"

She was carrying a roll of gauze and a key. Percy stared in amazement as she unlocked his restraints.

He automatically took a step backwards, "What's happening? Who's here?" Percy responded, rubbing his wrists.

"There's no time, run!" She yelled. Aphrodite ripped the IV out of his wrist, causing him to scream. She wrapped some gauze around the wound, handing him the rest of the roll, and pointed out the door.

"Take the hallway to the left, go right all the way down to the window, then go left and out the door. I'll stall them from the other direction!"

Percy stared as his unlikely ally sprinted out of his prison, and then he walked out himself.

"Perce! You gotta save me too!" Fins called from his tank. He was a small goldfish, swimming in frantic circles near the top of his tank.

Percy searched the lab he stood in, seeing chairs and tables in one corner, lab tables taking up the majority of the room, and then shelves next to where he stood.

He grabbed a large plastic bag from in one of the cabinets, and hoped that one bag would give Fins enough oxygen to last for however long was necessary. Percy scooped up Fins, smiling a little at the whoop of, "Freedom!" by the little goldfish, and sprinted out of the room.

Percy's legs were shaky after not running for several days, but he followed Aphrodite's instructions to the letter. He took the hallway to the left, then a right.

His legs began to tire during the full sprint down the long hall. People in lab coats stared as he sprinted past in a hospital gown. The gray glimmer of the sun glinted in the window he just arrived at, breathing heavily.

To his left was a short hallway, and he jogged the rest of the way. Exiting the building, the sun glared right into his eyes.

Squinting, he jogged down the sidewalk, spotting a street sign on the corner.

'Ok, I'm not far off from where they kidnapped me, I'm just a few blocks from home.' Percy thought, and he dashed down the sidewalk.

Percy thought he got weird looks in sixth grade when he walked down the hall after Luke gave him a swirly, but this was a whole other level. The amount of stares that he got from people was amazing, especially when he sprinted past them.

It looked to be about eight, so his mom would be home, about to leave for work. Percy sprinted even faster, flying up the stairs to his apartment complex, and up the flights of stairs to his apartment.

Percy bent over, hands on his knees, as he waited for his mom to answer. He huffed and puffed, and when the door opened, he was immediately engulfed in a hug.

"Percy!" Sally cried, holding her son close. Tears flowed down both of their faces as they clutched each other. Sally pulled back, "You have some explaining to do young man!"

Percy was marched through the living room, where Gabe was strangely absent, and into his room, where his mom sat him down on the bed.

Sally started to pace, "You have been gone for four _days_ Percy. Do you know how worried I've been?" She stopped, "Don't answer that. Your friend Grover came by yesterday, looking for you. I had to tell him you were sick with a virus, and couldn't go to school for a few days. I almost called the _police_ young man! You are grounded for a week, no friends, only here, school, and back to here! You understand me?" Sally exclaimed.

Percy's head was bent, "Yeah, mom."

She deflated, "Now where were you? You're in hospital clothes for goodness' sake!"

Percy looked at his mom, juggling whether to tell the truth. It would be ridiculous, but he had proof, he had the fish and, more importantly, his powers.

Percy caved. His internal sense of being rebellious was no match for his mom's teary eyes, and so he told the entire story.

* * *

 **Back when Percy was escaping the facility**

Aphrodite sprinted down the hall, glancing behind her to make sure Percy ran the correct way. When she saw his frame dart around the corner holding a plastic bag, she smiled with relief.

Aphrodite Lymp, short for Olympus, rounded a corner at a peaceful walk, no sign that she had been sprinting the moment before. She made the climb up a set of stairs, before riding an elevator up.

The elevator dropped her off at the top floor, where she exited the elevator. Aphrodite nodded to the secretary, and strolled up to her father's door, and knocked.

"Come in." Came a gruff voice.

She entered, taking in the expansive office. A large, wall sized window took up one quarter of the room, a formidable desk centered on the window wall. A large rug decorated the hard wood flooring, two simple leather chairs placed in front of the large desk.

"Sit, daughter."

Aphrodite did so, "Father, do you think we made the right decision? Perhaps if we had offered the boy money, or even other enhancements to his body, like strength, or endurance he would have listened."

The man spoke, "None of those have been proven successful."

"Well neither was the Poseidon Injection!" She retorted.

There was a silence. The man spoke once more, "You care for the boy."

Aphrodite glared lightly at her father, "Of course I do. Despite what you may think, people have emotions. Even if you made me act like I was friendly to him, seeing someone suf- ahem -suffer only makes you want to comfort them." Her voice cracked at the word suffer.

The man was quiet for a time, then, "Aphrodite, you know we have to take measures to ensure our empire stays strong. We are making advances in genetics and biochemistry that no one thought possible, and we must make sure that our only contender stays weak and behind in the race."

Aphrodite stared at her father, "You truly have no compassion for what you do, do you father?"

Zeus smiled, the first emotion on his face during the entire conversation, "The ends do justify the means, Aphrodite."

"Do they?"

* * *

 **Ooooh, what a dramatic chapter. Aphrodite was secretly in on the whole thing, and the entire experiment was planned. What's gonna happen next? Only I know ;)**

 **Anyways, do that review thing. I hear it's really popular these days with you kiddos. o/**


	5. Chapter 5

Percy blinked in rapid succession as he woke, the sun glaring into his eyes. He rubbed his face, sitting up in bed. His walls, the sheets.

He was home!

Percy grinned a bright smile, taking in his room, although small, the room had a charm with the messy floor and plain walls. On his nightstand was Fins, sleeping in the small decoration cave that was at the bottom of the tank.

Dragging himself out of bed, Percy headed towards the shower. He grabbed some clothes, noting that his laundry had been done already.

'Thanks mom,' Percy thought, sniffing the clean clothes.

He exhaled, before entering the bathroom and getting in the shower. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't getting wet. That was the first concern, and the second was that in the storm of confusion about not being wet, some water was floating around his hands.

Percy jumped in shock, the lack of focus dropping the water on the shower floor with a loud bang. He stared in shock, before laughing out loud, "Wow, my life really is crazy."

"Percy? Are you okay in there?" His mother called.

"Yeah mom I'm fine." Percy responded, smiling and looking at his hands.

Percy finished up his shower, and as soon as he stepped out of the shower, he dried instantly. Once again, Percy was amazed by his powers, but just accepted it and moved on.

He brushed his teeth and pulled on his clothes, before walking out into the living room.

Gabe was noticeably absent.

"Hey mom, not that I'm complaining, but where's Gabe?"

Sally turned from her position at the stove, apron and all, "Oh yes, well, he just didn't come home about a day after you… disappeared."

Percy sighed, "Mom, I'm sorry. It wasn't even my fault-"

Sally interrupted her son, "Yes honey I know, but I'll never forgive Gabe for what he did. Putting you in harms way just because of his gambling addiction, never again."

Percy frowned, but acquiesced nonetheless. He sat down at the counter, checking for any homework that was due Monday. Grover had been kind enough to drop off the homework from the previous week, and Percy was not looking forward to the long list of assignments.

Scribbling away on his notebook, Percy absentmindedly wondered about what would happen next.

'I can't just go back to school. If you got magical powers for no reason, you can't just ignore them after all,' Percy reasoned, 'But what to do next?'

He decided to ask the only person who knew him well enough to answer that, his mom. "Hey mom?"

Sally responded without turning, "Yes Percy?"

"What do I do now?"

A moment of silence. Sally turned around, taking the pan off of the stove so the pancake didn't burn, "What do you mean?"

Percy hesitated, "Well, I have these powers now, talking to fish, controlling water, but I don't know what to do with them."

Sally smiled, endeared by her son's innocence, "Percy, you can do whatever you want with them. However, I must recommend that you keep your identity a secret, as that may not bode well if your identity got out."

She breathed, "I must admit, I am gracious that you didn't go rushing off, fighting crime like Spiderman, or whichever superhero is all the rage these days, but nonetheless, it is your decision. Whether you want to go to school like normal, and focus on your studies, that's fine with me."

Sally looked straight into Percy's eyes, "As long as it doesn't endanger your future as Percy Jackson, then as far as I'm concerned, it's fine with me."

Percy absorbed what his mom had said. Sally went back to cooking breakfast for the two, but Percy couldn't stop obsessing over what convoluted message his mom had just told him.

'Wait, does she _want_ me to fight crime? If I did, and succeeded, it wouldn't endanger my future, plus it would be pretty cool." Percy couldn't help but smile.

He stared at his algebra homework with resolve, he would punish who did this to him, and stop them from doing it to others.

Of course, if some petty crimes were handled along the way, that was fine with Percy. His mother too, apparently.

* * *

Annabeth increased her pace as she walked back from the coffee shop. The plan was to tell her mom that she was going to study with Thalia, who in turn told her mother that she was going to study with Annabeth.

Neither of the two were doing any studying.

Annabeth sipped her coffee as she waited for Thalia's bus to arrive. The punk girl had taken the bus from where she lived, so they could both grab the stuff needed for that night's party.

Luke had arranged for his dad to take his mom out of town on a small holiday, and had the house to himself for a whole week. He had relaxed for the first few days, but had quickly called up everyone he knew and told about this small party he was having.

'Small' had a different definition for Luke Castellan. He had handed Annabeth five hundred dollars in cash and told her to get everything on the list that he gave her.

The list was quite lengthy, consisting of solo cups, chips, soda, more chips, plates, napkins, more kinds of chips, salsa, and many more things. Luke said he had his own matters to attend to concerning the party, and had jogged off.

And so Annabeth was stuck shopping with Thalia, who came for the company.

Thalia Grace stepped off the bus, Green Day shirt peeking out from underneath a light jacket. She brushed her long spiky hair to the side, and greeted Annabeth, "Hey Annie!" She called.

Annabeth growled at the nickname, but greeted her back nonetheless. The pair had a long history together, going as far back as kindergarten.

"So what did you call me here for? Shopping or something?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth sighed, "I told you this over the phone, there's a party as Luke's tonight and we have to get some stuff."

The light haired girl handed Thalia the list, whose eyes widened, "Some stuff?" She cried, "This looks like a party of hundreds, how much food do you eat?"

Annabeth huffed, "It's not _me_ that eats all the food, it's probably Luke's football buddies, God knows they eat food! They're all practically four hundred pounds!"

Thalia snorted, and followed Annabeth on her journey through the streets of Manhattan. The shopping was boring, small talk filled the time as their bags got heavier and heavier.

Eventually Thalia asked, "So. What's up with you and Luke?"

Annabeth jerked, nearly dropping one plastic bag filled with chips, "Huh? Nothing!" She responded, almost too quickly.

Thalia narrowed her eyes, "Annie, you know that I know when you're lying. Out with it." She demanded.

The light haired girl sighed, "Alright, you caught me. We're… uh… well, we're dating."

Thalia stared in disbelief, before outbursting, "I knew it! You two have been so _touchy_ this entire week, there had to be something going on between you two."

It was Annabeth's turn to stare, "Was it really that easy to tell?"

Thalia laughed, "No duh! He's had heart eyes for you for-like-ever!" She paused, "Did I just say that?"

Annabeth looked on, horrified that her secret was that easy to uncover, and that her friend, the staunch punk rock girl, had just said 'heart eyes'.

Thalia laughed at herself, "Wow, what a world we've come to. A world where Annie 'Goody-two shoes' Chase has a girlfriend, and I said the word 'like' and 'heart eyes' unironically."

The light haired girl shook her head, before dialing Luke's number on her phone.

"Heyo, this is Luke."

"Hey, it's Annabeth. Me and Thalia need picking up. We're on the corner of 86th and Amsterdam."

Luke laughed, "Wow, what a coincidence. I'm right there too. Hey, wait, I see you!"

The call ended, and Annabeth felt a tap on her shoulder. Thalia pointed to Luke, who was jogging towards them with a large paper sack.

"Hey Annabeth, Thals." Luke greeted, "My car's right over there, I'll show you."

They followed, Annabeth taking notice of the brown paper bag he was holding, "Whatcha got there?" She asked.

"Oh it's just something I got for the party. One of my dad's buddies has a shop nearby with party supplies, so I dropped by there." Luke replied nonchalantly.

Annabeth nodded. The trio got in the car, Thalia sitting in the back. There were several more, much larger, brown bags in the seat next to her, but she didn't comment.

Luke turned the radio up, pulling out and into the street. Luckily, it was early, and since it was Saturday, most people were still sleeping.

"So Luke, who'd you end up inviting?" Annabeth asked, half curious and half needing justification for buying so much food.

"Well, the football team and the basketball team were obvious choices, then each of my close buddies got a plus one. Jason was gonna bring Piper, Frank asked for a plus two for whatever reason, and Alex, Chris, Blake, and Jack all were bringing their girlfriends."

He paused, thinking, "Oh! I also invited that Valdez kid, he's always the class clown, and I figured he deserved some payment for letting me copy his math homework all the time."

Annabeth was shocked into silence, "Wow, umm, that's a lot of people."

Luke laughed, "Yeah, but my parties are pretty famous for being amazing, and this one can't be a disappointment."

There was a pause, just the music playing. Then, Luke piped up, "Oh Thals, I meant to tell ya, you're invited to of course, the plus one is extended to you too."

Thalia snorted, "I might show up. It depends if you and Annie here are gonna be glued to each other's face the entire time."

Luke froze, then broke into laughter, "That's a good one Thals." He looked sideways at Annabeth, who nodded.

He deflated, "Okay, how'd you find out?"

The punk girl smirked, "Well, since you asked, care to answer me this question. Can you explain how, on Monday, Annie here broke into squealing laughter for no reason, and you grinned right after the class stared. Or the time at lunch, the same day, I saw you grab Annie's hand under the table, but you thought you were sneaky."

She breathed, "Oh, and there was the time, yesterday in fact, I saw you admiring Annie from behind in the hall-"

"Okay! I think that's enough!" Luke interjected, face darkening by the second, which was now an unhealthy dark gray.

Annabeth blushed almost as dark as Luke, before turning to him, "So, did you like what you saw?"

Thalia and Annabeth bursted into laughter at the expense of the poor boy in the driver's seat. Luke burned a darker gray, but played it off as smoothly as he could, by ignoring it all.

The car ride ended at Luke's house, a fairly large house with a barely visible pool in the backyard. It was slightly too chilly to swim in, but the hot tub would be nice in the slightly cold weather.

Luke twisted the key, opening the front door, "Welcome to mi casa!" He exclaimed extravagantly, carrying several paper bags in his hands.

The front entrance was simple enough, a coat rack to the right with a rug on the ground to wipe your shoes. The entrance hall extended forward, until reaching a side doorway into the kitchen, which was attached to the living room.

A large flat screen TV was mounted on the wall, a fireplace below it. Two couched were on either side of the carpeted area, with one chair centered with the TV and a coffee table in the middle.

There was a dining table just to the left of the main hallway, with a staircase going upwards from the kitchen, leading to the bedrooms.

Annabeth and Thalia gazed around at the large downstairs area, before setting the chips and sodas on the kitchen isle.

Luke remarked, "It's perfect for a party. The personal rooms are upstairs and out of the way, while places to eat, chill, and drink are all located on the same floor and pretty much within line of sight with each other."

Annabeth nodded wordlessly, embarrassed to admit, but she was new to the whole 'party' thing. Normally she would be studying for tests or practicing her flute on Saturday nights, not staying up late into the hours of Sunday morning playing truth or dare and spin the bottle.

Thalia took a seat on the couch, which quickly transformed into an all out relaxed position with her feet on one end and her head facing the TV.

"Well, what're you waiting for Castellan?" Thalia yelled, "Turn on the TV! It's gonna be a long time before the party even remotely begins."

* * *

Frank shook his hands before taking the step up the patio. He rubbed his hand down his face, exhaling deeply, before pressing the doorbell.

Nico opened the door immediately after it was pressed, motioning inside. Frank hurried in, escaping the cold air outside.

Inside was a rather quaint house, nothing to brag about, but nothing too run-down. It was… homely. That was a first, coming from the kid who never talked to anyone besides like, two people, or at least from what Frank had seen.

Frank remarked, "Nice house. Reminds me of home."

Nico smiled lightly, before motioning a 'follow me' sign. Frank hung up his jacket, and hurried after Nico. The pale boy lead him into the living room, where Frank expected to take a seat, but was cut short.

The living room had a couch and two chairs all centered around a square coffee table, which had magazines and decorations scattered around it. A large, deep, royal gray rug took up most of the floor, which was a simple light gray carpet.

A large, but not overly so, television was mounted on the wall, playing a football game in the background, although it was muted.

The elephant in the room was, funnily enough, the actual elephant in the room. A massive statue stood proudly on the other side of the room, white ivory tusks contrasting against the gray, rough skin.

Below the head of the elephant, and between the tusks was a chair. Seated in the chair was a large man, looking to be about 6'4". The man had shoulder length hair, and a light beard, as though he hadn't shaved for a few days. His eyes were a dark, deep black.

He had a laptop sat in his lap, although he payed it no mind, and stared at Frank with a flaming intensity.

"Welcome." Hades Lymp greeted Frank, "to my _humble_ abode."

Frank stood in shock for a moment, not sure how to respond. Luckily he was saved by another voice, "Oh honey stop it, you're scaring Nico's friend."

The woman chided Hades, seeming to have no fear in front of the very intimidating man. The woman sashayed up to the almost-throne Hades sat upon, looking towards Frank.

"I'm sorry for his behavior, he thinks that the scary act makes him seem so macho." She laughed, before bopping Hades on the nose.

He jerked back, "Persephone stop that! I'm trying to intimidate the boy, so let me dammit!" Hades sighed, palming his face.

Persephone turned, greeting Frank, "Hello, I'm Persephone Lymp, and this is my husband, Hades Lymp. You must be Frank?"

Frank nodded, finally summoning some words from deep within himself, "Yes ma'am, nice to meet you and your husband."

She cooed, "Oh look honey, he's so respectful." Persephone turned to directly face Hades, "Maybe you should try it sometime." She spat, not un-harshly.

Hades rolled his eyes, ducking under another glare from his wife. He added, "Nico you can go do whatever, my intimidation tactic was _ruined_." The man looked pointedly at Persephone, who looked away with a smile.

Nico nodded, motioning Frank to follow him, and lead him to his own room.

The room was a decent size, a queen sized bed in the corner, a nightstand next to that. A dresser was at the foot of the bed, a TV on top of it. A coat rack was hung on the wall, occupied by several black sweatshirts and coats.

"Nice room." Frank commented, trying not to laugh at the moody blacks and dark grays that 'colored' the room, "It suits you."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Was that sarcasm I just heard?"

Frank smirked, "Maybe a little," then he turned, "Okay, so the reason I'm here. I got invited to Luke Castellan's party tonight, I think it starts at 9:00. There isn't really an ending time, and I wanted someone to go with, so here you are."

Nico stared at Frank, trying to judge whether he was serious or not. Eventually the smaller boy spoke, "You're serious." He said, more as a statement than a question.

"Yep," Frank confirmed.

Nico once again stared into Frank's very soul, judging whether he was lying. Eventually he came to a conclusion, "You aren't lying."

"Nope," Frank affirmed.

Nico stared for even longer, making Frank uncomfortable by the amount he had been stared at in one house.

Eventually, Nico just shrugged, "Why not?"

Frank sighed with relief, then got rather serious, "Ok. That's all well and good, but there's only one more problem."

Nico sighed, "What?"

"We need to convince Hazel to come as well."

* * *

Percy leaned back in the chair in front of their small TV, the chair that Gabe used to sit in. He reclined, back cracking, and suddenly realized why Gabe spent so much time in this chair, it was God damn comfortable.

He cracked open his laptop, luckily recovered from when he was kidnapped. He never noticed it, but he must have grabbed it on his way out, right? Maybe he was handed it by Aphrodite, Percy wasn't sure. His memory must've been foggy.

Clicking on the icon of Chrome, Percy tapped some keys, entering a specific phrase into the search bar. Tapping enter, he waited for what would show up.

"Operation Olympian"

 _Your search for "Operation Olympian" had no results, try refining your search term and try again._

Percy sighed, palming his face, 'This is getting nowhere.' He groaned. Percy had already asked his mom if she had heard anything about Olympian anywhere other than Greek history, but she had said no.

Percy looked up, ready to type something else into the search bar, when, to his surprise, the screen showed results.

'That's strange,' Percy remarked, 'Maybe it was just internet problems.'

Percy accepted his own excuse, and got to snooping. The first link was useless, something about the Olympic games. The next wasn't any help either, but the third was something interesting.

"Operation Olympian is real, I'm telling you…"

He looked at the description under it, seeing just a narrative about Operation Olympian. Percy clicked on the link, bringing him to a blog post. The poster claimed that Lehman Inc. made some serum, a drug filled with nanobots…

Percy stopped there. He re-read the first part, making sure he had it right. The poster claimed to be from Lehman Inc. They said that they worked there, and worked on the serum, but left when the serum was tested on humans without animal testing.

Percy cracked his knuckles, 'Time to get to reading,'

However, just before he could get started, a faint voice called from his bedroom. Percy was confused, but remembered he left Fins in there from after breakfast. Quickly, he relocated his tank to the main room.

"Gee thanks, Perce. I had only been calling for the last half hour." Fins griped, swimming in angry circles.

"Sorry about that Fins, I was caught up reading this article. Someone claims they worked at a place called Lehman Inc, a company that works in genetics. The founder is Alexander Lehman, the guy who proved that color could be restored with love."

Fins cut in, "Yeah yeah, I've heard most of this already from listening in on that pretty lady. She mentioned a Lehman every once in awhile. What's this gotta do with your powers and revenge path?"

Percy pointed to a paragraph on the screen, holding it close to Fins' tank, "It says here that this anonymous person worked at Lehman Inc., and that they saw the serum worked on, but left when it was tested on humans. I think that means me."

Fins took in all that was said, "So you think it's Lehman Inc. that's responsible for all this?"

Percy nodded energetically, "It makes sense too! Lehman Inc. made the Matching, a test that takes your genetic information and personality and matches you with the person best suited for you. They gain all this genetic information from that test, so they had free data to study on what genes made a person strong, smart, whatever. They made the serum as a test to see what their nanobots, or whatever they're called, could do. It makes perfect sense."

Fins inhaled deeply, then breathed out, "Wow, that's a lot of information. It all adds up. Good work, I gotta say."

He bowed extravagantly, "Why thank you my good sir."

Fins responded in kind, "You are quite welcome."

Percy looked at the time on his laptop, reading 12:47. Making a quick decision, he quickly grabbed the phone and ordered a pizza.

"Hi, could I get one large cheese pizza with breadsticks? My phone number is 555 - 555 - 5555. Thanks, bye."

Fins looked right at Percy, "You know I can't eat human food right?"

He laughed, running into his room and then back out, "I gotcha covered." Percy sprinkled in some of the fish food his mom had bought.

Fins sighed, "Ahhh that hits the spot. The perfect blend of spice and flavor. Truly the best food on this planet."

Percy gave the goldfish a weird look, "Whatever you say, man. I'll stick to my pizza for now."

The raven haired boy reclined back in his chair, Fins' tank next to him on the table. Percy grabbed the remote from the side table and flicked the TV on.

Percy surfed the channels, finding nothing of interest. He eventually left it on the local news.

Percy gained a mischievous gleam in his eye, and looked over at Fins. The small fish was floating near the edge of his tank, watching the news much like a normal human.

He smirked a little, then raised his hand. Slowly, some of the water off of the top of Fins' tank rose into the air, until about a pint was floating in the air about three inches off the surface.

Percy's smirk widened into a grin, as he dropped the water into the tank, scaring the bubbles out of Fins. Percy laughed madly, ignoring the obscene comments coming from the goldfish.

While he was laughing, the pizza arrived. Percy payed the man and sat back down, taking a bite from the first slice.

As Percy was enjoying his lunch, a sudden alert came on the news.

"Just in, we have an alert that a fire is taking place in the building on the corner of Lexington and 32nd street. Unfortunately, traffic has put a stop to the fire trucks trying to make the journey to the building…"

Percy stood up, "That's just down the street, a few blocks away." He exclaimed.

Percy thought about what his mom said, "You can do what you want with your powers, just don't let it hurt your future."

'Well mom, I'll try not to get hurt, but no promises.' Percy thought. He rushed to the closet by the door. Quickly, he scoured through the bin filled with winter clothes, finding a ski mask. Stuffing it in his pocket, Percy sprinted out the door.

Fins stared on as the future hero of New York City ran out of his home, "Go get 'em kid. Do some good to the world."

* * *

Aphrodite waltzed into the top floor of Olympian Industries, once again nodding to the secretary. The beautiful woman made her way to her father's door, knocking and waiting.

"Come in." Sounded the same old gruff voice.

The light haired woman stepped into the office, quickly taking her same seat as always. This time, there was another person there other than Zeus.

"Hello father, sister." Aphrodite said, paying no attention to the newcomer. "Father, I must say I completely disapprove of this new plan of action you are taking. It seems too direct, the boy is not trained." She protested.

Zeus held up a hand, "I understand you care for the boy, but he is ready. He does not suspect how he left this facility without his school items, and yet they were returned to him when he woke the morning after his return home. He knows nothing of our involvement."

Aphrodite interjected, "I disagree. You tampered with his computer, I saw what you did. You published that article about seeing all of that in Lehman Inc. You know it was us!"

Zeus once again stopped Aphrodite from beginning a tirade, "I must object, I did nothing of the sort. It was your dear sister that did it, and I must say, the post worked surprisingly well."

Aphrodite turned to the newcomer in their daily meetings, seeing a dark haired woman sitting with her legs crossed on the chair. She had her hair done in a brain, going down to mid torso, with a small tiara upon her head.

"Artemis. Long time no see."

The woman smiled coldly, "I was busy in Moscow, dealing with a Russian scientist who had made further discoveries than we felt comfortable with." Artemis' cold grin widened, "He has stopped all experiments and procedures with his work. In fact, he has stopped living altogether."

Aphrodite stared in shock, eyes wide, "Why would you _do_ that?" She questioned, horrified of the deed and the answer to follow.

The woman smiled, "To protect the company, of course. Olympian Industries must be the leader in genetics, or else we have nothing at all."

Aphrodite stared at her sister, then looked towards her father for help. There was none to be found. She slowly turned from both, and then swiftly escorted herself from the office.

Zeus turned back to Artemis, pulling a tablet from where it was hidden from underneath the desk. He powered it on, revealing a screen split into quarters. The feed was slightly grainy, but the feed focused.

It revealed a recliner next to a table. The TV was on, the news channel still playing.

There was a goldfish tank on the table.

* * *

 **How interesting! The plot develops! Hades is Nico's father, obviously related to Zeus. Persephone and Hades seem to be separated from Zeus, however.**

 **Artemis is revealed to be a hitman for hire, except born into, and forced to work for, a family of course.**

 **Anyway, do that cool review thing. I hear if you leave a review you get good blessings from a lonely guy on his laptop. o/**


	6. Chapter 6

Percy dashed down the block, carrying his ski mask tightly. His arms pumped back and forth as he propelled himself down the street.

In the distance, Percy caught glance of smoke, slowly billowing out of the three story building. A flash of orange flickered into Percy's line of sight, and he ducked into an alley.

The raven haired hero took a deep breath, before pulling on the ski mask. His visibility was slightly hindered, but protecting his identity was the first priority.

Percy exhaled, then dashed once more down the street. He felt alive, moving at full speed, the feel of water beneath the street.

He came up to the building, where a group of civilians were watching in horror. A woman cried out, "My sons! They're in there!"

Percy's eyes widened, and he got a look from the outside. There were three stories, so he would have to check from the top down, for safety's sake.

The raven haired boy inhaled, searching for the feeling in his gut. A twist in his stomach, and a fire hydrant exploded from the ground several yards away.

The water flowed like one fluent river, all forming into a large blanket. Percy maneuvered the blanket of water, twisting his hands to where the blanket would douse the front wall of the building.

The water hissed, steam billowing out and mixing with the dark smoke. The group of people watched in amazement as the water floated for no reason. Several of them had phones out and were recording the phenomenon.

Percy sucked in air as he was quickly exhausted from the act. He took deep breaths for a moment, before a yell broke him out of his rest.

"Mommy!" A small boy yelled, leaning out the window. The child must have been no older than four.

Percy watched in horror as the boy leaned too far from the third story window, and tumbled off the edge. Taking a risk, Percy threw out a hand, hoping the water would react with haste.

It did, a large palm of water formed out of the large puddle on the ground, catching the small boy and delivering him safely to the ground.

Percy grinned as the boy sprinted to his mom, before Percy dashed inside himself.

Inside the building was a mess. Large fires still burned in the back half of the main floor, and charred chairs, desks, and ceiling tiles littered the floor.

Percy called out several times. Hearing no response, he dashed up to the third floor, where the first boy had fallen from. A smaller child lied in its crib, bundled in a blanket and covered with dark ash.

He cradled the small child, carefully made a sizable hand for the child to lay in, and held the water hand up to a window. Percy placed the baby onto the hand, and slowly floated the child down to the mother, who sobbed in relief.

Percy took off his mask, wiping the shower of sweat rolling down his forehead. 'Note to self, get some more practice in,' He thought, gasping for air.

Percy stumbled down the stairwell, pulling his mask back over his face. He called out one final time, making a once through of the second floor, before heading down to the ground level.

As soon as Percy arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he heard voices around the corner. Percy froze as the voices got closer. They were muffled, as if from a gas mask, most likely the fire department.

Percy ducked behind the stairs, hiding out for a moment. The firemen passed, Percy still hidden behind the staircase, barely breathing. As the last of the men walked up the stairs, mentioning something about looking for more survivors, Percy dashed out of the stairwell.

He sighed as he escaped possible discovery, and quickly found a back exit. When Percy exited the building, he stuffed his ski mask in his jacket, and tried to walk as if he hadn't just saved two lives.

It was then that Percy started to notice that he smelled like smoke, ash, and overall just like he had been set on fire. He looked at his clothes, noticing his smoldering shoulder, and the many holes burnt in his jeans.

'Huh. Maybe I'm fire proof!' Percy exclaimed mentally, before noticing the slightly different skin tone in the spots where the fire had burned his clothing, 'Or at least fire resistant.'

Percy chuckled at the ridiculousness of the statement, before taking a light jogging pace back to the apartment.

* * *

Frank stood next to Nico, fiddling with his hands for the second time that day. The Canadian-Asian paced, reaching for the doorbell, but then turning away at the last moment.

Nico stared on with humor in his dark eyes. As the minutes passed, Nico just leaned up past Frank and pressed the doorbell.

"Frank you need to confront your social anxiety issue." Nico smirked quietly.

Frank turned, and incredulous look on his face, "Well considering the last encounter I had with one of my friend's parents, I'm reasonably concerned at this point."

Nico snorted under his breath, before turning to the now opening door.

"Hey Neeks, Frank!" Hazel smiled, hugging them both. Frank's face darkened, which luckily only Nico noticed.

Hazel turned, welcoming the pair into her home. It was humble, if a bit run down. There was a simple couch in the living room, which Nico and Frank took, and Hazel grabbed them sodas from the kitchen.

"So, what're you guys doing' here? Something wrong?" Hazel asked, brushing stray hair behind her ear.

Frank coughed, "No, but, well. Um, It's kinda awkward to ask, but well."

Nico cut in, "Frank got invited to a party and invited us too."

Frank was taken aback, but nodded and shrugged, "I didn't know if you wanted to come. Luke said to dress casual."

Hazel looked shocked, then grinned, "Definitely! I love me a good party once in awhile!" She cheered.

Frank and Nico nearly spit out their sodas, both looking at the other like, 'Did she just say that?'

The dark girl looked at the pair of shocked boys, and laughed, "Oh the look on your guys' faces!" She giggled for a minute, before recovering, "But yes, I would love to come."

Frank laughed awkwardly, still caught up on being tricked so easily, "Ok cool. It start's at 9:00, so I'll drop by and pick you up around 8:45?"

Hazel looked at Frank, looking for the joke, "Oh no. Pick me up at 9:30. You never want to be there first."

Nico snorted, "Yeah Frank, how could you _not_ know that? It's common knowledge amongst us Mythomagic nerds."

Frank laughed, fist bumping Nico, "Yeah, we're always the lives of the parties. Just you wait." He added, shaking a finger at Hazel.

She laughed brilliantly, "Oh yeah, I'll be waiting for whatever amazing party tricks you come up with."

Frank snorted, Nico joining in the laughter. Hazel turned on the TV, turning up the volume. It was the news channel.

"Hello again, we are back from commercial break with a breaking story from the building fire earlier today."

Hazel's eyebrows raised, turning the volume up further.

"To recap for new viewers, an apartment building caught on fire today. There is no known information about the starting of the fire, however it is the ending of the fire that catches our attention."

The screen shifted to a vertically recorded video, a burning building centered on the screen. Faint yells were heard around the camera, most panicked people shouting, "Call 911."

A few seconds later, a woman yelled, "My sons! They're still in there!" Many civilians gasped, and rushed to comfort the woman. However, the camera still focused on the building, and more specifically, one of the windows on the top floor.

A small childs frame could be faintly seen, but being held back by the flames surrounding the window. From nowhere, a giant wall of water suddenly covered the building, dousing the flames on the outside.

"We will now see a person, who some have claimed to be about 5'9", run into the building, after controlling the water from a fire hydrant nearby."

The camera showed just that, zooming in on the toddler as it was safely caught and placed on the ground. Then the camera followed the person, who dashed into the building.

The video ends, replaced by one from a different angle, which shows a water hand come up from outside the building, seemingly controlled by the mysterious figure standing in the window frame.

The water hand rose to the window, and to many's astonishment, carried an infant from the window into the mother's loving arms.

The video feed ended, the newscaster coming back again, "There you have it folks. So far there is no news determining what caused the fire, but one thing is for certain, there seems to be a hero on these Manhattan streets."

Hazel muted the TV, "Wow."

Nico nodded, mouth agape. Frank agreed, "Holy shit. How'd that guy _do_ that? It's water for God's sake!"

Neither of the other two answered, not having an answer to offer.

* * *

Percy sighed as he got out of his second shower that day, drying himself instantly. He couldn't help but feel slightly giddy at using his powers so much in one day, and levitated some water in various shapes as he pulled on his clothes.

He groaned loudly as he reclined in his chair, grabbing a room temperature slice of pizza from next to him. Percy sighed in relief after eating something after expending so much strength in one day.

The raven haired boy pulled out his laptop from the table next to him, noticing Fins sleeping soundly. The boy quietly opened his laptop, making as little noise as possible.

Percy opened his laptop, finding himself on the same blog post as he was earlier. He opened a new tab, typing in, "Lehman Inc."

Several links came up, the first being to the company's official website, and the second to their twitter. But once again, a bit down the page, there was an in depth article authored by an anonymous user.

Percy was interested, and put on his metaphorical detective cap, until he realized that the post had an ad streaming across the top of the page for the Matching, and the very first sentence was about how well the matching worked for them.

He sighed, not sure where to go from there, 'I have no leads as to how in the world Lehman Inc. did this to me, and I have no way to pin this on them without any proof.'

Percy groaned, taking another bite of pizza, when there was a knocking on the door. He jerked up, startled for a moment, before getting up and answering the door.

As he opened the door, Percy was suddenly engulfed in a hug. Caught off guard, he stumbled backwards, but hugged back nonetheless.

"Um, hi?" Percy asked, still not sure who was hugging him.

The person released him, "Hi? That's it? You go missing for a week and all I know is that you're sick? Not one text, phone call, anything!" Rachel yelled at him.

Percy blinked, "What?" was all he managed before Rachel planted a kiss right on his lips. His words were muffled against her lips, but relaxed into it.

He pushed the door shut, still maintaining the kiss. The pair broke apart for breath, inhaling and exhaling deeply, Rachel leaning on his chest.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was out of it," (That was an understatement), "for most of the time. The virus was terrible, pretty much like torture," (Once again an understatement), "so I couldn't function at all."

Rachel nodded, head still tucked into his chest. She looked into his eyes, "Now you, mister, owe me a date. It better be a good one for what you put me through."

Percy laughed, but acquiesced, and motioned her out the door. He grabbed his phone off of the counter, his key, and walked out of the door.

Rachel laced her right hand through his left, and they made their way out of the apartment complex.

The pair made their way down the block, turning left, on their way to the nearest theater. Percy would be sixteen in the next year, the same with Rachel*. Nonetheless, the pair made the most of their time together.

"So I heard about this thing happening tonight." Rachel said.

Percy raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Pray tell."

Rachel smiled, "Well… there's this party going on at Luke Castellan's house. His parents are out of town, and rumor is it's gonna be a great party." She said.

Percy flinched, remembering the time in the maintenance closet with Luke and his goons. Rachel looked at him curiously, noting that his hand tensed when she mentioned Luke.

"Ah, well. I don't know. I haven't been to a big party before. It's mostly been me, Grover, Leo, Nico, and maybe another kid at my birthdays."

Rachel laughed lightly, "Oh it's _fine_ ," she reassured, "Ok, here's the deal. We'll go on out mid-afternoon date now, then I'll pick you out an outfit, because I know you'll need it," Percy exclaimed, looking offended, "Oh hush. Then, after that I'll get my dad to get us a driver to the party. I'll probably be there with our ride at 9:20 or so."

Percy sighed, "There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there?"

She laughed, "Nope!"

The raven haired boy sighed louder, but nodded, "Fine, if it makes you happy, I _guess_ I'll go to the damn pary."

Rachel cheered, kissing his cheek. Percy couldn't resist a smile, and pulled her into the theater.

They looked at the movies that were playing, not seeing much of interest. Percy suggested Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but Rachel said she'd seen it already. In turn Rachel wanted to see Boss Baby, which Percy immediately shot down.

They were in a stalemate, one having already seen a movie, or not wanting to see it. Then, Percy suggested Alien: Covenant. Rachel looked unsure, but he reminded her that he was being forced to the party, and she acquiesced.

Rachel went to get their tickets, and Percy to go get their food. The pair split up, planning to meet by the entrance.

While standing in line for the food, however, Percy was struck with a dilemma. 'Should I get one soda or two?' He asked himself, 'One the one hand, less money spent means saving money, but she might not like that.'

Percy was having such an internal civil war with himself, he didn't even notice that he was next in line.

"Sir?" The man asked.

"Huh? Oh, um, could I get one large popcorn and one large soda?" Percy's voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

The man raised an eyebrow, but nodded and quickly retrieved the refreshments for Percy. The man took notice of Percy looking at Rachel, who was waiting for their tickets.

"Ah, young love. What a wonder it is." The cashier remarked.

Percy coughed, "Excuse me?"

He laughed, "Please, I see the way you look at her. You're falling in love, or at the very least you like her alot."

Percy laughed nervously, taking the popcorn and drink, then slid the man a 20, "Keep the change." Percy said, ready to sprint away.

"Thanks man. Oh! By the way, good choice with the single soda." The cashier winked.

Percy scrambled away as fast as he could, choosing to block the entire conversation from his mind. He walked up alongside Rachel, who was holding two tickets.

"Hey, ready for the movie?" Percy asked.

Rachel nodded, moving over to Percy, and, without taking the soda from him, took a sip. Percy gulped as she licked her lips, all the while maintaining complete eye contact.

'Maybe I should have gotten two sodas.' Percy reflected.

Rachel grabbed his hand, winking over her shoulder.

'On the other hand, maybe not.'

The pair made their way into the theater, they looked at the seating. It was fairly crowded, so they were forced to sit at the very back.

Luckily, the screen was large and the theater wasn't, so the screen still looked decent. Rachel ate some popcorn, pulling out her phone.

Percy put the drink in the armrest between them, which Rachel promptly moved. She set her phone down, and pushed back the armrest, leaving a love seat with one spot left.

'Oh I should've known.' Percy sighed, resigned to a fate of sitting next to a very promiscuous teen for two and a half hours.'

Rachel smiled, but hid it when she turned her phone back on. She scrolled through Instagram for a minute, while Percy put the drink in the cup holder conveniently placed on the back of the seat in front of them.

"Oh my god. Look at this."

Percy turned, a phone placed between Rachel and Percy. She pressed play, showing a video of a burning building, before a wall of water extinguished the flames on the front of it. The video was from a different angle, and it showed a mysterious figure sprint into the building, only showing a flash of black for the face.

"The NYPD ID'd him as a fifteen to sixteen year old male. About 5'9", looking to be in ninth grade. Hell, he could be in our class." Rachel muttered, speechless.

Percy's eyes were never wider, "Yeah. Looks pretty cool though. Really crazy, but cool too."

Rachel had a small smile on her face, "Yeah. Some kind of vigilante or hero. The NYPD put out an APB, they want to find that guy and bring him in for questioning."

Percy choked, playing it off as choking on popcorn, "Agh, well. I mean, he's gotta be a hero, right? He saved two kids and stopped a building from burning down."

"Well, you and I might see it that way, but the NYPD see him as a guy who could tear down the Empire State Building with one sweep of a hand, or flood TImes Square with a snap of a finger."

Percy's eyes bulged, "Wow, I never thought of it that way."

Rachel shrugged, but didn't respond as the movie started.

Percy relaxed as the lights dimmed, hand still laced with Rachel's. He used his other hand to eat some more popcorn. During the beginning of the movie it was relatively calm, until the first jumpscare.

Percy had a sixth sense when it came to horror movies, ever since he had seen IT as a kid. He had always felt when the jumpscares were coming. This time however, he put that skill to a good use.

Slowly, Percy retrieved his hand from Rachel, pretending to silence his phone. The jumpscare happened just as Percy reached his arm around Rachel.

She turned to Percy, smirking, "Oh you think you're _so_ smooth, don't you?" She whispered.

"Well yes, I think I am." Percy replied, a half smug smile on his face.

Rachel shook her head with a smile on her face, before turning back to the movie. However, Percy had just started World War III with the most mischievous girl on Earth.

Rachel reached forward to grab the soda. Percy didn't notice, watching the movie. She grinned in an evil manner, before placing the drink right next to Percy's right thigh. He looked down, wondering what Rachel was doing.

He was met with a conflicting sight.

On one hand, his inner teenager was extremely entertained by the sight of Rachel bobbing her head that close to… something else, but on the other hand, well… there wasn't another hand. Percy was extremely distracted.

Rachel leaned up, an innocent smile on her face as she wiped a drop of Coke from her chin.

"What?" she asked, the same smile on her face, "I was getting a drink."

Percy firmly faced towards the screen, trying to sneakily adjust his shorts. Needless to say, it didn't work. The smug grin on Rachel's face only grew.

More of the movie passed, until the credits rolled. Approximately six other times Rachel had 'needed' a drink, and had proceeded to tease Percy. Eventually, as the theater started to empty, Percy decided to get some revenge.

"You know, you really are evil." Percy stated, flat face.

Rachel smiled brightly, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. You must explain."

Percy grinned this time, "Well, let me show you how evil you are."

He then proceeded to pinch her butt.

Rachel squeaked, then covered her mouth with her hands. She turned, smacking Percy on the arm. He laughed loudly, catching the attention of anyone who didn't look when Rachel squeaked.

Percy dodged another smack, and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through it. She resisted, but eventually gave in. Percy kissed her temple, and she smiled in response.

The pair left the theater, Rachel leading the way as they exited the building. She quickly lead the way to the nearest store. The store turned out to be a mall, and Percy immediately regretted going shopping with a woman, let alone his girlfriend.

"Ok Percy, we're here for your outfit for the party, and, well I may have neglected to mention this, but your entire wardrobe as well."

Percy interjected, "Hey! What's wrong with my wardrobe?"

Rachel raised both eyebrows, "Oh honey, t-shirts, sweatpants, and athletic shorts aren't going to cut it. My boyfriend is going to dress as good as he looks."

At that point Percy just accepted his fate, and followed obediently throughout the mall.

 **3 Hours later**

Percy had never regretted a decision more in his life. His feet hurt, his arms hurt, his back hurt, in fact, most of his body hurt.

Our favorite pack-mule followed Rachel, who was holding a debit card between her thumb and forefingers. She perked up, "Oooh, there's another great place! I got this pretty top from there, there has to be good clothes for you there."

Percy stopped, "Rachel."

She turned, "Yeah?" Rachel clearly did not notice the amount of bags on his arms.

"I have approximately seven bags of clothes, a mix of dress shirts, joggers, 'better t-shirts', and various other clothes. This isn't even mentioning the three pairs of shoes I've been holding for the past forty seven minutes and thirty six seconds. Believe me, I've been counting."

Rachel cocked her head, then blinked at the number of bags, "Oh. Huh, I guess you're right."

Percy sagged with relief, "Can we go now? My arms are numb and my feet feel like my shoes are made of nails."

She smiled, "Well, I _guess_ we could go, but there are a few more shops I would love to check out…"

Percy stared. She stared back. He stared harder. Rachel stared with more focus. Eventually Percy won, although he nearly started crying after it went on for longer than thirty seconds.

Rachel called a cab for herself and Percy. The ride back to Percy's apartment was a short one, luckily. Percy didn't think his arms could last much longer.

The pair made the walk up to Percy's apartment, Rachel unlocking it for him while he carried all the bags in.

Percy massaged his arms, "You know, you could've helped with the bags."

Rachel waltzed up to Percy, starting to massage his back. Percy groaned, "Wow, you're really good."

She laughed, "Actually I'm terrible. Your back just hasn't been massaged in forever."

A cough from the corner of the room.

Percy fell over himself, so startled that he took Rachel down with him. A tangle of limbs and sore limbs occurred, but they slowly untangled themselves.

"Hello honey." Sally Jackson greeted from her spot on the small couch. She was holding a coffee in her hands, her reading glasses on.

"Um, h-hey mom. This is-"

Rachel walked to Sally, offering her hand, "Rachel Dare, nice to meet you Mrs. Jackson."

Percy's mother smiled, "It's Sally, please. It's nice to meet you."

Percy interjected, "Ah Rachel, didn't you have that thing to go to? You know, the thing with that guy in the place?"

Rachel turned, a single raised eyebrow and a smirk, "Oh yes. That's right, I'm sorry Sally, but I have this thing with this guy in the place." Rachel smiled.

Sally laughed, but lead her out. Percy slumped onto his chair, inhaling deeply, 'I do not need this conversation now.' He groaned.

"So Percy," Sally said, taking a seat where she previously sat, "Who was that young lady?"

Percy decided to play the innocent card, "That's Rachel, remember? She just introduced herself. Are you sure you aren't losing you memory?"

Sally stared, "Percy, you know what I meant."

He groaned, "Okay okay, she's my girlfriend as of about five days ago. You caught me."

She smiled, "Thank you for the honesty honey." Then she went back to her work.

Percy waited for her to say anything else, only for nothing to come. He shrugged, and gathered up his bags and went to his room, albeit slightly suspicious.

'What is she planning?' He asked himself, only for no response.

Before he went to put away his entire new wardrobe, he remembered to at least ask to go to the party. She nodded, just saying, "Don't get in too much trouble. Although, I suppose you can at least protect yourself with your abilities."

Percy smiled, the thought of water making him want to use his powers.

"Oh and don't think I didn't see the news today, mister! You are in so much trouble young man!"

* * *

Aphrodite greeted the secretary once again, this time not bothering to knock on her father's door. She barged in, yelling almost immediately.

"Really? This is the level we've stooped to? Protecting our company, I understand that. I could barely handle torturing a child. Using him was almost pushing me over the edge, but this? Setting fire to a building, endangering innocent lives?"

Aphrodite breathed heavily, face red. Zeus looked calmly on, Artemis remaining quiet through the tirade.

Zeus stood. He took determined steps around his desk, casually brushing the creases out of his pinstripe suit. Zeus stood in front of Aphrodite, towering over her 5'7" frame with his massive 6'3" hulk of a body.

"Do I need to remind you, daughter, that this is not _our_ company? This is my company, my legacy. I inherited this from my father, you own no shares as long as I live." He jutted out his chin, "Now, daughter, if you wish to keep this boy safe, you will not storm into my office again, nor will you talk back to me ever again."

She nodded, eyes defiant.

Zeus spoke again, walking back to his seat behind his desk, "That boy is not needed for my plans. If I wanted I could do it all myself, but I care for my life and public image, so I use the boy."

Aphrodite sniffed, eyes beginning to water.

"The boy is not necessary, daughter. I can _replace_ him." Zeus glared at her, "Now get out of my office."

* * *

 ***I couldn't find Rachel's birthday anywhere, so I just won't mess with it until I want to.**

 **What a chapter! Zeus threatens to take out Percy, Rachel's relationship with Percy is revealed to Sally, although there wasn't really a reaction there, and Rachel really is mischievous, don't you agree ;)**

 **Anyway, next chapter is the party. I'm so ready to write this one honestly. Oh, and how could I forget, do that review thing I hear it makes Rachel all the more naughty o/**


	7. Chapter 7

**Just a little warning, this chapter is a bit descriptive. It should probably be M but I'm keeping it T for more exposure**

Percy inhaled as he brushed the creases out of his dress shirt. It was a simple, semi-dark gray button up. He left it untucked. Bending down, Percy adjusted his joggers, that khaki material bunching up.

The boy checked the time, quickly calling a, "See ya!" to Fins, who swam in circles, watching the TV running quietly.

Sally gazed as her son hurried around the house, preparing last minute things. He grabbed his phone, then his wallet. Percy waited by the door, tapping his foot.

"Percy, she won't be here for another three minutes, not even counting if she's late. _Relax_!" She chided.

Percy inhaled deeply, then took a seat on the couch. Even then he didn't relax, sitting straight up and flipping his phone anxiously in his hands.

His phone buzzed, his eyes flashing to the screen. Percy read the text, then stood and made his way to the door.

Sally met him there, handing him his key, "Don't forget this." She kissed his forehead, "Have a good time. Remember, I'll be concerned if you come back _before_ three a.m."

Percy laughed, hugging his mom, "Ok, see ya tonight. Or tomorrow, I guess." She waved, and the boy headed out of the apartment.

He was taken aback slightly by the limo waiting outside. Percy shook it off, and opened the door to the rear of the vehicle.

"Hey Rachel, you ready for the party?" he asked, closing the door. Percy turned, getting a good look at her, and was struck speechless, "Wow. Um, uh. You look really, really good."

Rachel smiled, wearing an elegant top that fell off of one shoulder. It had a variety of different shades of gray on it, looking like splattered paint. The top revealed her midriff, showing her waistband of a tight pair of jeans.

"Well you don't clean up too badly either." She smiled, "It's good to see you put your new wardrobe to good use."

Percy smiled, modeling his black Converse for her, "Yeah, well, since you were nice enough to go overboard on the shopping, I might as well put it to use."

Rachel grabbed his hand, leaning her head on his shoulder. She sighed happily, tapping her hand along to the beat of the music in the car. The ride wasn't too long, about twenty minutes or so.

Percy exited the limo first, jogging around to let Rachel out. She smiled with a raised eyebrow, but accepted his offered hand. She told the driver to stay nearby, and the pair walked towards the massive house.

Immediately after they entered, the music hit them like a force to be reckoned with. People milled around the hallway, before all leading towards the main room. Most guys were dressed similarly to Percy, which he found strange.

The pair entered the main room, assaulted by the noise. There was a large area that had been cleared out to the right, where a big stage was filled with a dj's setup. Music played loudly, but not uncomfortably so.

A large amount of people, Percy guessed about thirty, danced in a mosh pit way, jumping to the loud music. Rachel steered him away from the dance, telling him, "Go get us some drinks. Get me the one from the specially labeled one."

Percy nodded, absentmindedly wondering if he would know which one was special. He made his way into the kitchen, only to run into Luke.

"What are you doing here Percy?" Luke said with some hostility.

Percy took a deep breath, "Ok. I've done what you wanted, I left Annabeth alone. It's been a week, I just want a new start."

Luke went to interject, but Percy stopped him, "I don't need you to be nice, hell I don't even want you to, I just want us to be neutral, okay?"

Luke cocked his head, mulling over the information he was just given, "Alright. A new start. However, any wrong move and there is no recovering what truce we have now."

As Luke walked away, drinks in his hands, Percy sagged with relief, 'I did not expect him to accept that easily.'

Percy shook it off, walking to the kegs on the island in the kitchen. One was labeled with water, the other with the 'special' stuff. There were several other sodas nearby, and strangely enough a gallon of orange juice.

He ignored it, grabbing two cups. One he filled with Coke, for himself, and the second with the 'special' stuff. Curious, Percy took a sniff of the liquid.

'Oh dear God.' Percy groaned, 'Just what this party needed, alcohol.'

Nonetheless, Percy made his way back to where Rachel was standing, talking to Nico and Hazel. Percy greeted them, "Hey guys!" Then he handed the drink to Rachel.

Hazel and Nico greeted him back, Percy taking a sip of his Coke. He looked around, "Where's Frank? Was he invited?"

Hazel explained, "He went to get some drinks. I think he'll be back in a minute."

Percy nodded. The group of four stood in a semi circle. Percy took notice of Hazel and Nico's out fits. Hazel was in a black dress with a shiny necklace hanging from her neck. She stood a few inches taller in a pair of heels, much like Rachel.

Nico, however, was the more interesting one of the pair. He had styled his hair in a less-messy way, giving it some shape to the left and back of his head. He was dressed in a dark button down shirt, and a light gray pair of sweatpants. It was a nice change.

Frank took the empty spot in the circle, balancing three drinks on his hands. Nico and Hazel each took one, Frank taking the last.

The group was making small conversation when a loud voice came over the speakers, "Hey hey hey! Y'all having a good time?" Luke yelled.

A loud cheer went through the house, the loudest coming from the large group in front of the dj. Luke spoke again, "Alright! We've got food in the kitchen, drinks too. If you're feeling up to it, try some of the special stuff."

Luke winked, laughter echoing through the now larger crowd, people coming in from outside. He said one last thing, "Haha, well other than that, there's spin the bottle out back, and I hear there's gonna be a game of pass the card in here."

A loud whoop came from the crowd. Luke jumped off the stage, taking step in by Annabeth.

"So, whaddya think?" Luke grinned, "Pretty cool right?"

Annabeth smiled, "Yeah it is. And let me tell you that this is amazing." She pointed to her drink, filled with alcohol.

Luke laughed, "Alright, that's the way to party! You can never drink too much."

The pair laughed, heading to the main sitting room.

Rachel turned to Percy, a wild grin on her face, "Have you ever played pass the card?" Percy shook his head, and Rachel dragged him into the half formed circle in the living room. Hazel, Frank, and Nico followed suit.

Rachel sat down on the couch, making room for Percy on her left. Percy leaned over, "What even is this game?"

She smiled, "You'll see." Rachel pointed to where Luke procured an ace of hearts from his jacket, "Watch what they do and copy."

Percy shrugged. Hazel was on her knees to his left, on the ground. Frank was to her left, then Nico. The raven haired hero watched in a small amount of shock as a random girl, looking very tipsy, sat between Frank and Nico, ogling and cooing over the latter.

Nico looked very uncomfortable, but he gradually ignored it, however he did draw the line at the girl petting him.

Luke yelled, "Alright you guys ready?"

The circle cheered, a small crowd standing outside to watch. Luke grinned madly, setting a timer for one minute on his phone.

Luke started a chant, "Three! Two! One!"

"GO!" The crowd roared.

Luke placed the card on his lips, sucking in deeply. The speed of his suction held the card to his mouth. Then he turned to Annabeth who was on his right. She put her face to his, taking the card from him.

And so began 'Pass the Card'.

Annabeth passed it to the guy on her right, then to a girl, another girl, then to a guy. The guy paused, seeing his friend next to him, also a guy. The guy dropped the card and left.

The tipsy crowd booed, before the next guy picked it up and passed it. Luke held up the timer, which was at forty seconds. The card went around the circle, Percy recognizing Leo sitting between two cheerleaders, a mad grin on his face.

Jason passed it to Piper, who passed it to the girl next to Nico. She passed it to Nico, who turned to the drunk girl with wide eyes. The girl sprung forward, practically eating Nico's poor face off.

Many laughed as Nico nearly suffocated under the girl, and the timer buzzed, "Alrighty Nico and Angela are out, sorry you two." Luke announced, "Although they seem to be enjoying it."

The crowd laughed, watching as Angela ushered Nico to the corner of the room, who looked very uncomfortable.

Frank picked up the card, going when Luke and the crowd counted down. He passed it to Hazel, both blushing extremely hard. The shy girl turned to Percy, and dropped the card, blushing and giggling too hard to keep the card stuck to her lips.

The crowd laughed as Frank picked up Hazel, who was recovering from the most physical contact she'd probably ever had.

Percy hurriedly passed the card to Rachel, who took suspiciously long taking the card from him. Rachel passed it to the guy next to her, making haste. The guy was about to pass it, but the timer buzzed.

The game quickly continued for several rounds until it was down to ten people. The order went Luke, Annabeth, two random girls, Leo, another girl, Percy, Rachel, Jason, Piper. Jason and Piper had lost earlier, but had joined back.

Luke set the timer, "Alrighty, speed round. Fifteen seconds per card, then you're out. If we can't decide who's out, both of you are. We keep going until there's a pair or a single person left, depending on how the game goes. Y'all ready?"

The crowd roared, and Luke started the timer. He passed it to Annabeth, then to one girl, the next, then to Leo. As Leo went to pass it, the timer buzzed, and he was out. Sadly, the elfish boy stood and exited the circle, only for the pair of cheerleaders on either side of him to follow.

The crowd whooped and hollered as the girls dragged Leo through the kitchen and up the stairs, to the private rooms. Leo had a stupid grin on his face as he nearly tripped over Nico and Angela, who had passed out.

Angela passed out. Nico was struggling to hold the dead-to-the-world girl's weight.

Percy shrugged, passing the card to Rachel, Jason, Piper, Luke, Annabeth. Annabeth dropped the card, laughing as she did. Luke hugged the laughing girl, who was giggling so hard she was nearly crying.

There were now five left. Percy, Rachel, Jason, Piper, and a random girl, who Percy heard someone call Katie. The circle closed in, as did the crowd. People cheered as the card was passed with haste.

Jason fell, making Piper stay behind. Katie fell next, leaving Percy, Piper and Rachel.

Luke jogged back, yelling loudly, "Ahem, sorry about that. She got a little too much of the special stuff," the crowd laughed, "Okay! The timer will be set to thirty seconds, giving all of you time to pass the card."

A loud roar rose from the crowd, cheering on their respective favorites. Percy could've sworn he saw money exchanging hands, but ignored it.

Luke yelled, "Go!" and the race was off. Percy passed it, Rachel, Piper, Percy, Rachel, Piper, Percy, Rachel. The pattern continued.

Suddenly, when Piper passed it to Percy, the timer buzzed. The card fell, right in between the two. There was quiet, before a hushed discussion rose into a loud yelling contest.

Percy heard yells about who had the card last, and he leaned to Rachel, "Why does it matter who wins?"

She responded, "There's sorta a tradition of who wins. They get to choose a person, and they get a room held off limits for them for the rest of the night, to, ya know…"

Percy's mouth opened, but he didn't get to respond. Luke overtook the crowd, "Okay okay! An official decision has been made, and both Percy and Piper have been ruled as losing."

Most of the crowd booed, but Percy noticed some happy faces as they received handfuls of one dollar bills from several others.

Luke entered the circle of people, raising Rachel's hand high, "And that means that our winner is RED herself, Rachel Elizabeth Dare!"

The crowd cheered, waiting anxiously for her choice. The girl turned to Percy, kissing him on the lips. A loud cheer rose from the crowd, which dispersed. Percy grinned, "So does that mean we go upstairs?"

Rachel laughed, "Oh no! Despite my first move on you we're not doing that yet," she trailed off, "or at least not this early in the night."

Percy stood frozen as she winked, sashaying away. He jogged to catch up, putting an arm around her waist. She smiled, handing him a cup filled with alcohol. Percy was about to take a sip, but Rachel shoved a glass of orange juice in his face.

"I know it's your first time. Here's if you can't stand the taste that much."

Percy smiled, but downed the first cup in one gulp. His eyes bulged, and he coughed violently. "That wasn't beer." He wheezed.

She rolled in laughter, "No duh! It wasn't even like a sixteenth full! That was whiskey you dummy."

Percy chugged half the cup of orange juice, sighing in relief as the burning subsided, but only slightly. He slurred, "Woah, there's like three of you."

Rached was shocked, then quickly steadied him. "Woah woah woah there, you really can't handle your liquor well can you?"

He grinned, standing up perfectly straight, "You really think that much of me? I'm wounded, Rache."

She groaned, "That was terrible. I thought I had made you drunk beyond belief."

Percy laughed, putting an arm around her shoulder, "Nah. You can't get rid of me that easily."

Rachel laughed, putting an arm around him, "I guess I can't."

* * *

Frank sighed as he looked at the girl lying on the bed. She was spread eagle, giggling nonstop. He paced, before taking a seat on the edge of the bed, 'Didn't know she had taken my drink instead. Shoulda guessed, mine had a little less kick than expected.'

Hazel laughed loudly, before going quiet. She lied there, staring at her fingers, "Heyff Frankie. My - uh - my toes look like wooorms." She hiccupped, wiggling her fingers."

Frank patted her leg, "Yes they do Haze. We're gonna be here for a while, you aren't looking so good."

Hazel sat up, a frown on her face, "What? Is it me? Is there something on my face, because if you haven't told-"

The Chinese-Canadian's eyes widened, surprised at the outburst, "No! Haze you're really _really_ drunk right now. You just need a little nap. You'll feel better in the morning."

Hazel continued to babble on, switching topics like a sugar crazed toddler with ADHD. Frank sighed, "Huh, maybe alcohol fit for a 6'0" 180 pound guy isn't fit for a 5'6" 90 pound girl. Who knew?" Frank laughed.

She sat up again, "Are you laughing at ME?" she yelled, "I'm pretty! Stop laughing!"

Frank sighed, "Hazel you are very pretty, beautiful even, not that I'd say that to your face. Or at least your sober face."

Hazel collapsed back down onto the bed, "Why Frankie, I didn't know you felt that way about me!" She giggled, "You're pretty pretty too, Frankie."

Frank sighed as she giggled louder at her own joke. Eventually he sighed, "Alright it's time to get you home." He stood, making his way to Hazel.

She rolled away from Frank. He rolled his eyes, and reached across the queen sized bed, grabbing for her hand. She pulled it away, rolling back the way she came.

Frank sighed, reaching for her hand again. This time he missed, and fell over her. Luckily, his hands braced his fall, but he was now straddled over her.

Hazel breathed in, then exhaled. The light smell of alcohol on her breath. Frank's eyes widened, and he quickly rolled off of her. He nearly sprinted across the room, taking a seat on the futon.

She sat up, strangely serious, "Frank, I know that was surprising, but it doesn't have to be awkward. We can ignore it…"

Frank jumped, "Yes! Let's ignore that please!"

She continued, "Or we can talk. About how we feel about each other."

He looked up, about to respond, when Hazel passed out cold. Frank gaped, but chuckled a little to himself, 'Huh, the one chance I get to confess my feelings, and she passes out.'

Frank kicked up his feet, settling in for a long night of watching over the very drunk and most likely extremely hungover Hazel.

* * *

Annabeth was having a fantastic time. She carried around her solo cup, waving her hair to the music, and dancing like no one was watching.

Okay, so she might have been slightly tipsy. Annabeth tripped on her own feet, spilling some of her drink over herself.

More like extremely drunk. Mind bogglingly so in fact.

Someone grabbed her lightly by her shoulders, guiding her off of the makeshift dance floor. Annabeth swayed in response, not in control of her body in the slightest.

"Oh Annie, what did you do to yourself?"

Annabeth faintly recognized the voice, noticing black hair with streaks of gray through the blur. "Thalsss?" She slurred.

"Yeah, I'm here. Let's get you somewhere where you can chill out."

Annabeth just hummed, and followed the steps. She asked, "Where's Luukee?"

Thalia shook her head, "I don't know honey. Let's not think about that right now, and get you to a bed."

Thalia lead her best friend upstairs to the private rooms, guiding the clumsy girl. The sober girl checked the first door, opening the door just a crack. Peeking in, she quickly recoiled, blushing deeply.

"Ok, maybe the next one. C'mon Annie, just a little farther."

Annabeth hummed, collapsing on Thalia. She grunted with the effort, but stumbled into the next room, praying that there weren't any teenagers exploring themselves.

She pushed open the door, seeing a large Chinese guy sitting on a futon, a sleeping, or most likely passed out, black girl on the bed.

"Hey!" Thalia hissed, "Wake up!"

Frank jerked awake, immediately noticing Thalia in the doorway, struggling with the weight of Annabeth. He jumped up, taking Annabeth easily into his arms.

He carried her to the bed, laying her next to Hazel. Frank turned to Thalia, "So you're in here with a passed out drunk too?"

Thalia snorted, "She had so much to drink that it's beyond illegal now." Frank laughed, taking a seat on the futon. He patted the seat next to him.

"C'mon. We're gonna be here for a while, so might as well get comfortable."

Thalia nodded, and took a seat, "I'm Thalia, and that drunkard is Annabeth."

Frank laughed quietly, "Hi Thalia." He groaned in a monotone, much like someone from an AA* meeting. He continued, more seriously, "I'm Frank and that's Hazel. She doesn't really drink, but had my drink by accident, and I could handle a lot more alcohol than she could.

Thalia snickered, "Ah yes, petite girls drinking. The best entertainment in my opinion."

Frank snorted. He inhaled deeply, stretching his neck, "You want a drink or something? I was gonna run down but I fell asleep. Figured you could use a pick me up too."

Thalia nodded, "I'll take a Coke and the entire Doritos bag."

Frank bowed, "Your wish is my command."

She laughed as he jogged from the room. Frank tiptoed down the hallway, then down the stairs. Entering the kitchen, he checked the time. The clock read 12:48.

Frank groaned, 'I'm gonna be dead tired tomorrow.' Nonetheless, Frank continued on his mission, grabbing a cup and filling it with Coke, and another with Dr. Pepper. He balanced both in one hand, grabbing the only bag of Doritos left.

Just before heading back upstairs, Frank took a look around the party. It was still going hard, only about three people were asleep, and they were being vandalised by two pranksters with sharpies.

He shook his head with a small smile on his face, but headed upstairs. As he rounded the corner, he saw a couple making out in the hallway. Frank blushed, and tried to sneak past.

As Frank passed the couple as quietly as he could, he saw, in horrifying detail, the guy practically rip off the girl's tank top. She cried out, and Frank moved faster, trying not to witness the moment of passion.

All Frank heard as he approached the door where Annabeth, Thalia, and Hazel were, was intense moans and then a door shutting.

He sighed, and carefully opened the door, slipping in and closing the door quietly.

"M'lady." Frank bowed his head, offering her the chips and then her drink.

She smirked, "Why thank you kind sir. It's hard to find a man who respects women these days."

Frank laughed, "I'm the reason they can't say chivalry is dead, not to brag."

Little did Frank know, he had missed out on saving a girl's night, and didn't even realise it.

 **THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER**

Piper was enjoying the party. She sat next to Jason, who was nearly asleep. His head bobbed, before popping back up. Jason put his arm around Piper.

"Hey Pipes, can you get me a soda? I'm about to fall asleep and I need something to keep me awake."

She looked back at her boyfriend. His hair was slightly mussed, well, as mussed as his hair could be, being about one inch in length. 'That Valdez boy.'

Piper stared at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow, but acquiesced. She got up, taking Jason's old cup with her. Making her way into the kitchen, she passed a couple making out heavily on a chair.

She shook her head, 'God what I would do to be her.' Piper stared back at Jason, seeing his head bob again. She grabbed a spare cup, not sure where her old one had gone.

'Might as well pass out too, if the only person I'm comfortable with is going to sleep too."

Piper filled Jason's cup with Coke, and hers with the near hidden bottle of whiskey behind the rest of the sodas.

She made her way back to Jason, slipping back under his arm, "Hey. Here's your drink babe."

After no response, she turned, seeing his eyes shut, and a light snore. She smiled, 'That goof.' Piper held the drink in her off hand, downing the whiskey in one gulp. Coughing madly, she downed some of the Coke after.

Being young and having a small frame, the alcohol almost immediately took effect, and she slipped into a calm rest.

Piper had been asleep for a while, but awoke when a hand shook her shoulder. Blearily, Piper opened her eyes, seeing two dark eyes looking back at her.

"Hey, there's an empty room upstairs, I can take you there with your boyfriend. That way you won't get messed with."

Piper nodded, closing her eyes. To her surprise, she was swept up into the guy's arms.

"Heyy whatcha dooin?" She slurred, but apparently it went unnoticed.

She pushed off of the person's arms, trying to escape, "Take me back to Jasn." She called, seeing the man look right at her before continuing to walk.

Piper yelled as loud as she could, but a hand muffled her scream. She was quickly taken upstairs, and pinned up against the wall.

The man ripped off the strap of her tank top, she cried out. Her world shook, blurred by alcohol and fear.

The man assaulted her neck, leaving dark bruises with his hands and mouth. He pushed her into the room, shutting the door and locking it.

She was shoved onto the bed, falling off and hitting her head on the nightstand. Her world twisted and turned, her head felt sticky.

"Pleashh, stopp!" Piper called, only for the person to continue to assault her.

OUTSIDE

Percy laughed, one arm around Rachel as he played cards with Leo and two other new guys he had met, Travis and Connor Stoll.

"Okay, so then the Nair ran down the tube, and right onto his head!" Leo cackled.

Connor and Travis rolled in laughter, and couldn't even play their turn. Percy snickered, and whispered to Leo, "Just skip them."

Leo grinned, skipping the new kids to the school. According to the twins, they were far removed half brothers of Luke, back when Luke's dad had a high school sweetheart and got too frisky.

The twins had moved into town because their step dad had gotten a recent job at some company, and got paid _way_ more, quoting the twins.

Leo peeked at the twins' card, and laid down his hand, "I win!" he cheered loudly. The pair of twins sat up, a mixture of shock and humor on their faces.

Percy felt a buzzing in his pocket, and separated from Rachel, "Sorry I've gotta get this."

He jogged away from the four, leaving them to play the first rounds for him. Percy pulled out his phone, reading 'Unknown Caller'

Percy rolled his eyes, expecting a scam caller, but answered either way, "Hello?" he deadpanned.

"Percy? Percy! It's Aphrodite! There's no time to explain, quickly, grab some water, and go upstairs."

Percy recoiled, "Aphrodite? How do you know this number? And what's wrong?"

"There's no time. I'll explain in person later. Go upstairs and check the second room on the right. _Hurry_ , Percy."

The call ended abruptly, and he stared at his phone expecting for answer. Ironically, an answer did come, a text from the same 'Unknown Caller', reading _Hurry_.

Going against his instincts, Percy floated some water from the pool sneakily, calling out to Rachel and the others, "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to the bathroom."

They nodded, and continued their game of Go Fish.

Percy nearly sprinted upstairs, going purely off of the sense of urgency in Aphrodite's voice.

'I shouldn't be trusting her. She did this to me, and somehow she knows where I am, and the layout of the building?' He debated, 'But she did rescue me from that place.' He reasoned.

Percy took a deep breath, floating the water in a fist shape. He tried the door, but it was locked. Taking a chance, Percy inserted some water in the shape of two large points, twisting and jiggling the water until the lock clicked.

At a full sprint, Percy clicked on the light and shut the door, preventing anyone from escaping. He took view of the room, immediately focusing on the large guy towering over a girl, clothes thrown all over the room.

Seeing that the girl was passed out cold, Percy took the water fist and slammed it into the man's face, knocking him across the room and into the wall.

A loud bang echoed through the room, and Percy hoped the music would cover it up. He smacked the man again, knocking the guy to the ground.

Making quick inventory of the room, he grabbed the bed sheet and tied his hands and ankles together, smashing the water fist into the guy's face for safe keeping.

Percy turned to the girl on the bed, seeing a stream of white and a darker gray streaming from between her legs. He gagged, nearly throwing up on the spot.

Eyes nearly closed, Percy pulled the girl's panties up, and fastened her jeans. Percy picked up the girl, taking her to the room across the hall, hoping for some safe haven for the poor girl.

Entering the room, Percy was immediately put on edge, seeing the two girls passed out on the bed. He raised his hand, preparing the water hidden behind his back.

In the dim light, Frank stood, "Percy? What's up?" He noticed the girl, "Oh, another alcohol victim. Set her on the bed, that's why Annabeth and Hazel are there."

Percy didn't crack a smile, "Frank. If there was one responsibility you had, it will be this one. You are going to protect this girl with your life. You understand?"

Frank stared back, Thalia standing as well, "We'll protect her." Thalia stated firmly.

Percy nodded, covering Piper with a spare blanket as he placed her on the bed, and then dashed out the door.

Thalia walked up to the girl, "Piper too? Geez, everyone likes alcohol when it's available, and yet claims to be a good person."

Frank snorted, "The question is, why did Percy need us to protect Piper?"

Thalia and Frank looked to where Percy had run out, but the door had shut.

Percy grabbed his phone with fury, dialing the number Aphrodite had called from. She picked up immediately.

"What do you need Percy?"

Percy growled, "I am not going to question how you knew that… monstrosity was doing that deed to that girl, but I need one question answered."

She responded immediately, "Anything."

"Were you, or anyone you work for, responsible for what just happened?"

Aphrodite gasped, "Absolutely not! I would never-"

Percy cut in, "I will care later, all I need to know is can you get this bastard taken care of? I can take him anywhere right now, and I'll make sure he stays out cold."

She hummed, "Can you take him approximately a quarter mile south from your current location? Secure him there, and I will take care of him and send him to lockup permanently."

He chose not to question how she knew where he was, and picked up the dirty monster, "On it." Percy gathered up some water from where he had dropped it, taking it from the carpet.

He hardened it into a rough and sharp watery platform, and shoved the poor man onto the slab of water, making sure he got cut several times.

Percy used his phone to make sure he was facing south, and sent the platform out, going at extremely fast speeds. The man zoomed out the window, quickly traveling to what Percy guessed was about a quarter mile away.

The raven haired hero took a seat on the bed, hands shaking. Sweat rolled down his forehead, his breathing uneven.

'Is this what being a hero feels like?' he asked himself, 'Because if so, I definitely hate it with a passion.'

* * *

 ***AA means Alcoholics Anonymous**

 **Also I broke five thousand words on this chapter so that's something.**

 **Btw you can blame 13 Reasons Why for the inspiration of this chapter. I didn't plan for part of the story to be M, but it just escalated to that. Don't worry, everything's here for a reason.**

 **Sorry if the dark themes offend you, but don't like don't read. Review b/c that makes my day and stuff. See y'all later o/**


	8. Chapter 8

Percy sighed as he stood from the bed, using some extra water that had spilled to refill his energy. He took a peek into the hall, checking that the coast was clear.

Seeing no one there, Percy entered the room with Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Thalia, and Frank. He collapsed onto the ground, sighing deeply.

Frank raised an eyebrow, "Percy? You alright?"

The boy sighed, "No."

Frank recoiled, not expecting an honest answer, "Oh, well. We're here to listen, so feel free to talk."

Thalia nodded as she straightened the sheets on the bed, making sure all girls were comfortable. Percy inhaled, "Well, I rescued a girl tonight, so I should feel good, but I don't."

Frank's brow creased, before connecting the dots, "Wait you saved Piper from what?"

Percy palmed his face, "Rape."

The room froze, a deafening silence. Frank whispered, "Really? Holy shit."

Thalia breathed, "What happened to who tried to touch her?" Her fists clenched, breathing uneven.

Percy laughed darkly, "Oh that bastard's taken care of. He won't see light ever again where he's going."

She relaxed, but only slightly. Thalia made her way to the other side of the bed, stroking Piper's hair. Thalia spoke, "Should we tell her?"

"It depends on if she has any memory of it. There's a good chance that she was at least somewhat drunk, so it might be a haze. I'd tell her as soon as possible, to give her the most time to heal, or cope with it." Percy groaned, "God what's wrong with the world?"

Frank was silent. Thalia didn't have a response either, so Percy spoke again, "One thing's for sure, we keep this between us and her. This can't get out, it'll ruin her if she doesn't control who knows."

They nodded, and Percy stood, "Ok, well I'm off to recover from the alcohol I've had, and most likely try to forget about the majority of tonight."

Thalia continued to stroke Piper's hair, whispering sweet nothings to no one. Frank rubbed his face, sighing deeply, 'What now?'

Percy closed the door behind him, tip toeing down the stairs. He grabbed a cup from the kitchen, filling it with a mixture of beer and Coke, praying that more alcohol would make him forget this whole mess.

He sighed in relief as he retook his seat by Rachel. She was barely awake, about to nod off when Percy sat down. She looked up, "Hey Perce. That was a long bathroom break, you sure you're okay?"

The boy chuckled quietly, "I'm fine. I'll recover, it wasn't that bad." Rachel nodded, and laid her head on his chest, quickly falling asleep.

Percy sighed, 'Except it was that bad. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this hero stuff.'

The raven haired hero took a deep breath, taking in the sights of nature at nearly two in the morning. The party was subsiding, most people either going home or going to sleep.

Leo was dead asleep in the chair to the right, drool hanging from his chin and a sharpie in his hand. Travis and Connor were leaning on each other, the name of the other twin written on the wrong person's forehead.

Percy snorted, 'At least someone had fun tonight.'

The moon shone brightly, stars twinkling above. Percy inhaled, 'Being a hero is so hard.' He sighed one more time, before falling asleep, leaning on Rachel.

* * *

A buzz on Percy's phone shook him awake. He clumsily reached for his phone, seeing double. It buzzed again, and Percy groaned, head pounding.

'Never drinking ever again, that's for sure.'

He pulled out his phone, reading 'Mom' on the sender's name. Percy shot awake, instantly regretting it as his head pounded more.

The hungover boy tapped a quick, 'I'm okay. Be home later.' and powered off his phone. He sat up, laying Rachel down on the couch, letting her sleep longer.

Stumbling into the house, Percy fumbled his way to the fridge. He grabbed the nearest cup and filled it with water.

He sighed with momentary relief, but the headache didn't subside completely. It faded to a minor migraine, but Percy was able to function. Percy grabbed a few more cups, filling them with water as well, and set them outside for Rachel, Leo, Travis, and Connor.

Percy took a deep breath, squinting at the brightness of the day, and got back inside as fast as he could. He sighed in relief as the brightness levels fell, and made his way back into the kitchen.

He grabbed a plate from the night before, filling it with water cups. Percy balanced it as well as he could, and made his way upstairs.

Shutting the door as quietly as he could, he set the plate on the nearby dresser, turning on the lamp.

"Rise and shine little ones," Percy called lightly, "Wakey wakey!"

Frank and Thalia rose first, looking for the most part okay. Annabeth groaned, but pushed herself up. Her hair was frazzled, and she had dried drool on her chin.

"Whass happinin?" She slurred, before grabbing her head, "Ohh that hurtsss."

Percy smiled lightly, and brought a water cup to Annebeth, Frank, and Thalia. Frank and Thalia nodded, heads pounding as well, but not as bad as Annabeth.

He handed Annabeth the cup, "Drink. It'll help."

She snatched the cup from him, squinting at it suspiciously, before taking a sip. She quickly downed the rest, sighing in relief.

Percy turned to shake awake the second out of three girls, when he froze at Piper's face. In the light it was clear to see several large hickies trailing down her neck and underneath her tank top. She had a large bruise on her right shoulder, finger shaped bruises curling around her shoulder.

He took a deep breath, before shaking Hazel's shoulder instead. The black girl moaned, and rolled over. Percy sighed, and whispered, "Hazel. Get up. I've got water."

The girl sat up slowly, staring at the world like it was a new dimension. "What happened?" She asked, after taking a sip of her water.

Percy looked to Frank, not knowing much. Frank replied, "You had my drink from last night, and you got really drunk."

Hazel's eyes were closed, squinted shut. She opened her eyes, but quickly shut them again, "God my head hurts. Everything's so… different."

Thalia snorted, "Yeah you're hungover. That's what happens."

Annabeth stared into space, hair frazzled and water in her hands, "Where's Luke?" She asked, a strange look in her eyes.

Thalia sighed, pulling the girl off the bed. The punk girl straightened the other girl's clothes, and finger combed Annabeth's hair. "He's not here. I'm not sure where he is actually."

Annabeth had a strangely disappointed look in her eyes, and sighed, "Any idea where he could be?"

Thalia shook her head, "I don't. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you because you are not well enough to go after him."

She sighed, and took a seat on the ground. Thalia watched as Annabeth laid there, trying to recover.

The punk girl looked around, noticing Piper still asleep. Hazel had gotten up and taken the other spot on the futon, next to Frank. Percy was standing in the corner, eyes frozen on Piper.

Thalia made her way to Percy, "We can't just ignore her. We have to get her up eventually."

He nodded, but made no move to wake her. Thalia sighed, and took the last cup and went up to Piper, "Hey. You awake?"

No response. She tried again, shaking the sleeping girl's shoulder, "Wake up. We've got some questions to ask. There's water too."

The girl roused from her rest, eyes bleary, "Thals?"

"Yep, it's me. Here's water, to help with any headache."

The girl took it thankfully, drinking deeply, "What happened last night? I don't remember anything past me getting another drink and sitting next to Jason."

Percy sagged with relief, and exhaled. He sat down, finally able to relax, 'Okay, we have time.'

Thalia shrugged, "I don't know what exactly happened, but my guess is you passed out after one too many drinks."

Piper nodded shakily, "Yeah. I think I remember that. I think someone offered to take me up to a room, is that why I'm here?"

Percy, Thalia, and Frank froze. No one responded.

Annabeth groaned from the floor, "Yeah that's probably what happened. I faintly remember Thalia dragging my ass away from the dance floor."

There was a knock at the door, which Percy quickly answered. Jason stood in the doorway, a concerned look on his face. "Hey is Piper in here?"

Percy's eyes widened, but Piper responded before he could stop her, "Yeah I'm right here. Hey Jase."

The tall boy sighed with relief, hugging her tightly, then taking a seat on the ground, "I was looking for you. I couldn't remember where you went, so I looked through the house."

The three who knew what happened to Piper watched anxiously, but luckily Piper had rolled herself up in the sheets, covering her hickies and bruises.

The room was quiet for a moment, only the sound of sipping water and breathing. Eventually Piper finished her drink, "Hey Jase can you go refill this? I need more."

Jason stood quickly, nodding and taking the cup. As he left the room, Thalia gave a look at Percy and Frank.

The boys nodded, Percy albeit more reluctantly. Frank lightly pulled Hazel out of the room, and Thalia convinced Annabeth to go look for Luke after handing her the rest of her water.

Eventually it was only Percy, Frank, Thalia, and Piper in the room. Piper looked strangely at the three, "What? Is there something on my face?"

Percy sighed, not sure where to begin. Thalia took control, "Okay. There's something we've got to tell you. Last night, Percy accidentally walked into one of the rooms, and saw you there."

Piper's brow furrowed, "Okay? What's so wrong with this?"

Percy continued, "You were passed out completely. One hundred percent out of it, and, well. There was this man. He was standing over you…"

She stared on in confusion, before her eye's widened, "Wait. Hold on. Are you telling me that I was…"

Percy nodded, eyes watering at the memory, "I punched him. I knocked him out, and left him there. I… covered you. Then I brought you here."

Piper stared. Hey eyes widened as she looked at her neck, seeing hickies dotting her neck. Tears rolled down her face as she touched the bruise on her shoulder, almost reverently.

"Oh."

The eerie sentence was all Piper said. Percy waited for any reaction, and he got it. She stood, tripping over her own feet and she gagged into the trash can. Frank averted his eyes, wiping his own tears away.

Thalia rushed to her, holding her hair back and patting her back. Percy clenched his fist, eyes watering.

"There you go, honey. It'll be okay, don't worry. He's taken care of."

Percy spoke once more, emotion clogging his voice, "I called up one of my mom's friends. She took the guy. She took him away, forever. He can't hurt you anymore."

Piper cried, sobbing loudly. Jason walked in, almost dropping the water in shock. He crouched down, but Thalia caught him, "Go talk to Percy first."

Jason stood, eyes bulging, but made his way to Percy, "What's wrong with her?"

Percy took a deep breath, but explained the full story. He left out the parts of using his powers, and prepared to stop Jason from hitting something.

The taller boy's hands clenched, knuckles turning white. Percy grabbed his hand, "Okay. I know, it's all so screwed up. Everyone here does. Don't break anything, that'll just make it harder to cover up."

Jason turned, ripping his fist from Percy's grasp. He launched his fist into the bed, over and over again. Jason shed tears, "Pipes. I'm so sorry."

He crouched next to his girlfriend, "I'm so, so sorry."

Percy grabbed Frank's hand, then tapped Thalia on the shoulder. She nodded,and the trio left the recovering pair in the room.

As the door shut, Percy collapsed. His back slid down the wall, eyes shedding tears freely. "God that's so screwed up. Why do things like this _happen_?"

Thalia sniffed, holding back her own tears, "I don't know. No one does."

Frank knelt down by Percy, "Perce, you dealt with the guy. You said it yourself, he's gone. Forever. Just take that victory and move on. It's all we can do."

Percy looked up, eyes red, "If I had checked that room earlier. I could have saved her, if I was faster."

Frank sighed, and took a seat, "Look man, you already stopped that guy from doing so much more harm. You stopped that guy, now move on. Piper's really hurt by this, she needs to see strength to know it's okay to recover."

He sniffed, standing up shakily. Percy wiped his eyes, taking an uneven breath, "Okay. Maybe you're right."

Frank nodded solemnly, and gave Percy a light push towards the stairs, "Now go be normal. Show Piper that we can all recover from this, including her."

Thalia nodded, "I'll stay behind to make sure no one goes in. You go find Hazel, Frank."

Percy and Frank both made their way down the stairs, seeing more people awake than earlier. It was about 9:30, by Percy's guess, so people were ready to go home.

Rachel stumbled up to Percy, "Hey Perce. You aren't looking so good, you need some water?"

Percy shook his head, "Nah. Just a little under the weather."

She nodded, grabbing his hand, "The car's gonna be outside in about ten minutes. You should grab anything you lost, and then we'll head out."

Percy nodded, patting his pocket. His phone was there, he had his shoes and key. Percy spoke, "I'm ready now. Let's go."

He looked around the house as he left, 'This place will never be seen the same.' Percy sighed, and jogged to catch up to Rachel.

* * *

Percy collapsed onto the recliner, staring despondently at the TV. He sighed, grabbing the remote. Fins swam in his tank next to him, "Hey man, how'd the party go?"

The boy sighed, "It was fun. Would've been great except for something."

Fins swam around, "What's that?"

Percy whispered, "Aphrodite called me. She said to check a room upstairs. I went with some water as protection. A girl was there, being r-. Raped."

The goldfish stopped moving, "Oh my God."

He nodded, flicking through the channels. There was a silence in the room, before Fins spoke, "You gotta call Aphrodite back."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "And why would I do that? I don't even want to see her. She might have answers but she was suspiciously aware of what was happening."

Fins smacked his head against the tank, "Nah man! She has the answers! This is what you need. From what we know she worked at Lehman Inc., and maybe still works there. Go out there, get some answers, and be a damn hero."

The raven haired boy looked at Fins in shock, "You know Fins, sometime I think you're a better hero than me."

Fins swam in a tight circle, bubbling with laughter, "Ah yes, the mighty goldfish, fear his might!"

Percy laughed despite himself, and stood up. He hurried to his room, changing clothes quickly. Percy brushed a hand through his hair, feeling refreshed after the pep talk.

"Alright, I'll be back later."

Fins waved his fin, and Percy locked the door.

As he exited the building Percy called the number again. Aphrodite picked up.

"Meet me at the corner of 5th avenue and 32nd street." The phone clicked.

He looked at his phone for a second, but shoved it back into his pocket. Taking a brisk pace, Percy walked down the block.

Crossing a street, Percy stood on the corner of the streets. He looked across the street, looking to see if he had the wrong corner, but he didn't see Aphrodite.

A tap on his shoulder caught his attention. He turned to see Aphrodite, dressed in a long coat and heels. She turned 180 degrees, and set off on a brisk walk.

Percy followed suit, falling alongside the woman. Neither said anything.

Aphrodite took a sudden left, into a coffee shop. She entered the shop, taking a seat at a table in a corner.

Percy sat, crossing his legs and waiting for her to say something. She said nothing. He decided to ask his own question, "How did you know what was happening in Luke's house?"

She cocked her head, "What an interesting first question," she paused, "Well, to give you the bare minimum, I accessed the security cameras in the house and saw a girl being harassed, and notified you of it."

The boy looked at her, trying to read her poker face, "And if you gave me more than the bare minimum?"

Aphrodite smiled, a smile that was filled with much more than humor. There was a firm edge to her lips, a cold feeling emanating from her, "Well I would not be seen again if the news got out that I told you certain facts."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "Sure, I'll believe that. Okay then, why did you give me that serum?"

She bowed her head, "Ah yes, an actual question. In truth, I felt a sense of loyalty to my company, and I carried out my orders. After I saw what it did to you, I had a change of heart."

"So what? You're helping me now? I want to stop your company, Lehman Inc. The things you are doing are inhumane, and probably illegal considering I was a nonconsenting minor."

The woman raised her chin, "I am not helping you. I was simply stopping an unforgivable deed."

It was Percy's turn to cock his head, "Oh, so you _just so happened_ to check in at that very moment. It seems like you're stalking me, lady."

A genuine smile came to her face, "I can promise you that I am not stalking you, Percy. I merely wish that you have as positive life as possible, all things considered."

Percy's mouth dropped, "A positive life? You give me a drug, which I can't even begin to understand how it works, and change me down to the damn atom. I'm not _human_ , Aphrodite. I'm something different."

The smile dropped, "I apologize for what I did to you, but I am trying to remedy my mistakes. If I truly didn't care, I wouldn't have saved your friend."

He snorted with disgust, "Piper hasn't been saved. She is hurt beyond belief, and quite frankly not sure if she'll ever be the same, cheery girl I met at school one day."

Aphrodite closed her eyes. She swallowed, "Look, I'm sorry for what happened to your friend. I _can_ help you. Lehman Inc. They are a dark, corrupted company. You are right, their experiments are wrong. I want to help you take them down."

Percy raised his eyebrows, "And how can I trust you? You used to work there after all. What's your proof?"

She smiled, flipping her hair over one shoulder. One hand reached into her coat, pulling out a white box. A firm movement slid it across the table.

Percy picked up the box. Aphrodite spoke up, "Inside you will find a flash drive. It has a special program that can download itself onto any device. I would recommend your phone."

He looked at her, "And what does this program do?"

She nodded, "It's actually quite ingenious, really. The program downloads a secure contact line, so I can give you information on where Lehman's supply trucks and such are going."

He fingered the flash drive. It had a different shape, one fit for an IPhone charging port. Percy locked eyes with her, "So you give me information on their business, then what?"

A cold smile came across her face, "You get your revenge. You sabotage their trucks, stopping all continuation of their experiments and research."

Percy leaned back in his chair. The raven haired boy took a deep breath, "Okay. Sure." He plugged the drive into his phone, which turned on and unlocked immediately. Aphrodite smiled.

The woman pulled out her own phone and sent a message. Percy's phone buzzed. A notification read, 'Aphrodite sent you a message.'

He nodded, impressed. A new app was on his phone, simply called 'Message'. The boy clicked on the app, seeing Aphrodite's contact. Entering the conversation, Percy saw, 'Welcome to operation Lehman.'

Percy looked up, "I must admit, your little app thing is pretty cool. But I do have one question."

Aphrodite nodded, "Anything."

"Why are _you_ doing this? From all I know, you don't have much of a reason to want Lehman Inc. out of the picture, other than moral reasons for me. So far, your reasons consist of feeling bad for something you did. That's not a very strong argument."

She sighed, looking down. Her eyes raised, "I have personal reasons for it, I hate the company. Their experiments are terrible, their research dangerous. I wish for a better world."

Percy raised his head in acknowledgement. He stood, nodding a goodbye. Just as he was about to leave, Percy turned back, "When do I start?"

Aphrodite was gone. The chair she used to sit in empty. Percy's phone buzzed. He opened the app, reading the message from Aphrodite.

'Right now. Take 5th avenue to 30th street. Go right, and find the garage labeled 113.'

Percy smiled, and walked up to the cashier in the shop. He asked, "Hi, can I get three waters?"

The girl nodded, reaching into the fridge and handing him three bottles. Percy paid accordingly, and exited the shop.

Percy followed the path easily enough, crossing a few streets until he got to 30th. Looking around, he ducked onto the street. It was relatively empty, only about ten people on the block and few cars.

He ducked into an alley, just before garage 112. Twisting the caps off of all the bottles, Percy grinned, 'It's always fun to take out some bad guys.'

The last thought Percy had before he entered the garage was, 'For Piper, may no one else be hurt in this city.'

Percy entered, a large fist made of water right behind.

* * *

Aphrodite sighed as she entered Olympus Industries HQ. She navigated through the halls, draping her coat over her arm.

Nearing the elevator, Aphrodite pressed the 'up' button. A minute of waiting, and Aphrodite exited the elevator.

She gave her customary greeting to the secretary, before pausing before her father's door. Knocking, she waited.

"Come in."

Aphrodite entered the large office, only Zeus in the room. She took a seat, crossing her legs.

"I've done what you asked. He believes it's Lehman Inc. doing the experiments. Percy is now on the way to one of their truck garages."

Zeus smiled, "Good. Now, as to your obedience, I believe you were… barely adequate."

She opened her mouth, "Hold on! I convinced him to attack Lehman Inc. This is what you wanted! I did what you asked!"

He stared at Aphrodite unemotionally, "I do what I want, daughter. Don't think I didn't hear you say you hated this company. I own you, daughter. This is to ensure your loyalty."

Aphrodite begged and pleaded, but Zeus had no ears for it. He tapped a few words on his computer, hitting enter decisively.

"It is done, daughter. Think of this is a trial. Testing the boy to see if he's strong enough to do serious danger to Lehman Inc., and testing you. You will listen to me, and you will do what to I say."

Aphrodite shed tears, "No! Please, no!"

Zeus motioned for her to leave. She reluctantly did, sobbing on her way out. He tilted his chin in the air, admiring the live security footage that was playing on his computer. Zeus saw the boy sneak in, ready to attack Lehman Inc.'s trucks filled with sensitive materials.

Zeus bellowed a laugh as another person was in the garage before the boy.

He spoke into an earpiece, "Katie Gardner, it's time to prove your worth. If you win, your father goes free. You lose, and he dies."

* * *

 **So that was that. A different chapter, a bit darker than normal, but that's the way it is. Don't worry, it'll get more light hearted later.**

 **I heard that if you review the next chapter comes out earlier. Can't remember where I heard that, but you guys should listen. See y'all o/**


	9. Chapter 9

Hazel was having one heck of a day so far. She had woken up, so hungover she thought she was imagining things. She had opened her eyes, seeing a cup of water in her face.

A red cup.

She had pretended that she hadn't seen anything, but couldn't deny that everything was in color. She could see Percy's sea green eyes, Annabeth's golden blonde hair.

It was wonderful, but there was just one problem.

She didn't know who she fell in love with.

Hazel could faintly remember playing pass the card, and almost kissing several people. She blushed at the thought.

Frank dropped her off at her house, then went off to take Nico home. She sighed as she stood before the door. Her hands weren't gray, but a warm, actual, _color._

Hazel unlocked the door and slipped in as quietly as she could. There was a chance that her mom was home, so she hoped that her mother was asleep.

No such luck.

Her mother sat on the couch, knitting something small. Hazel closed the door, slipping off her shoes. So far, her mother didn't look up.

Tip-toeing through the living room, Hazel tried to get past her mother without confrontation.

"Hazel," her mother said. Dang.

Hazel turned, "Yes mother?"

"Come here. Sit," her mother demanded.

Hazel obeyed, sitting quietly on the couch opposite her. Marie Levesque stared back, solemn, "Where were you last night? You said that it was going to be a small party."

"I said I was going with a small group of _friends_ to a party. I was at the party the whole time, mother."

Marie raised her chin, trying to read her daughter. "Very well."

Hazel dismissed herself, briskly walking to her room. She entered her room, shutting the door immediately. She sighed, relieved to be out of her mother's presence.

Maria Levesque was a cold woman. She was so naturally, ever since Hazel's father had left. Maria had been left alone in New Orleans, poor, lonely, and with a child.

The woman had climbed her way to the middle class by the ends of her finger tips. She had resorted to performing certain deeds for money, not that Maria would ever admit that. Hazel only knew that the pair had been in poverty at the start, and in middle class by Hazel's first memories.

Maria Levesque had moved to New York City when Hazel was twelve. The woman had gotten a better paying job in the jewelry industry. Hazel knew that there was another reason, she had seen her mother's paycheck, and it hadn't increased by any noticeable amount.

Hazel flopped onto her bed, hair cascading around her head in a semi circle. She sighed, thinking about her father.

Hazel's mother had never talked to her daughter about the mysterious man. He had remained an enigma for Hazel's entire life, and every time Hazel asked, Maria would either grow quiet and not answer, or send Hazel to do chores.

The young girl sat up, pulling out her phone. She looked in her front facing camera, flabbergasted over her golden eyes. They shone like the purest of gold, the bright color contrasting greatly against her dark skin and hair.

Hazel looked through her room. It looked very strange now. None of the colors matched a specific color scheme. While in grayscale it looked good, the actual colors were hidden to the large majority of the population, and now the colors looked wrong.

She needed to tell someone, anyone. This was a massive secret, but she couldn't decide who to tell. Hazel knew only Percy, Frank, and Nico well enough to even think about telling them, but there was always the chance that it was one of _them_ that she had fallen in love with.

While Hazel's memory was faint, she remembered Percy, Nico, and Frank with the most clarity, especially during the beginning of the party. However, those same memories were in grayscale.

'Oh no,' she groaned, 'I fell in love while drunk off my ass.'

She flopped back onto her bed, not sure where to go and who to go to. Hazel made a split decision, and went to the person who probably knew the most about love, Rachel.

Rachel picked up the phone on the first ring, "Hello?"

"Rachel, I need a favor. Can you pick me up for like, I don't know, a coffee or something?"

A pause, "Um, sure. Any specific place?"

Hazel responded negatively, and gave the other girl her address. She hung up, grabbing her key again, and walked out into the living room.

Her mother had put down the knitting project and had picked up some papers from work. She tirelessly tapped into a calculator, writing down the occasional number.

"Hey mom, I'm going out with Rachel. We're gonna get some coffee and maybe food."

Marie looked up, nodding once, before going back to her work. Hazel sighed, 'Great now she's mad.'

Hazel waited for a few minutes, then decided to go outside either way. Closing the door, Hazel sat on the chair on the porch.

A bright red car pulled up, Rachel rolling down the rear window, "Come on!"

Hazel jumped off the patio and quickly got in the car. She turned to Rachel, "Thanks for picking me up."

The, as Hazel now realized, red head waved it off. "It's nothing," she said. Hazel sat for a moment, not sure how to begin.

"Okay, I can tell by the look on your face that there's something other than coffee on your mind. C'mon, out with it," Rachel said, motioning a 'come forth' sign.

Hazel sighed, "Well, let's just say that your red hair is really pretty."

Rachel stared in confusion, then disbelief, "Oh my GOD! Who?" she exclaimed.

Hazel grimaced, "That's just the problem, I was so drunk last night that I can't remember who."

The redhead recoiled in shock. She sat there, contemplating what Hazel said. "Wow, that's terrible and amazing at the same time."

Hazel nodded. Rachel spoke again, "Okay, first things first, what faces do you remember from the party last night?"

The golden eyed girl counted on her fingers, "I remember most of the beginning, but the more memorable faces are Nico, Percy, Frank, Piper, Annabeth, Luke, Leo, and you."

Rachel sat back, whistling, "That's quite a cast of characters. Well, let's eliminate some right now. You're straight, right?"

Hazel blushed a dark red, "Yes!" she eeped.

The other girl laughed, "Okay, so that leaves Nico, Percy, Frank, Luke, and Leo. Percy was with me the most of the night, Leo too. Luke wandered off somewhere, so I guess Luke's a possibility. Nico was taken captive and did who knows what all night."

Rachel cocked her head, "Since everyone was either with me, or busy doing other stuff, that leaves Luke and Frank."

Hazel sighed, "Well that stinks, I'll never be sure who I fell in love with now."

Rachel pulled Hazel out of the car, "Not necessarily. We still have a secret weapon."

The golden eyed girl rose an eyebrow, "Oh? What's that?"

Rachel grinned in a slightly mad way, "We go right to our suspects."

* * *

Percy was having, needless to say, an entirely different morning. He had just broken into Lehman Inc.'s garage, and was going to sabotage a truck or two.

He flipped his hood up, and slipped inside. To his surprise, there was only one person in the entire garage. A girl stood in the center of the aisle, trucks on either side.

"Who are you?" Percy asked, suspiciously forming his water fist into a tighter compacted one. The girl didn't respond, although Percy swore he recognized her.

It struck him, "Katie Gardner? From the party last night?"

No response. Percy was on edge, "Look. I don't wanna hurt you, but you gotta get out of here. Lehman Inc. is evil, they perform experiments on kids. If you leave now you can stay out of this whole affair."

Katie remained silent. Percy noticed that she started to shake. He called out, but something flew out of mid air and smacked Percy across the face before he could respond.

Percy cried out, holding his cheek, "Hey! What was that… for."

A giant collection of vines, leaves, and branches swirled together. If formed a massive ball of foliage, several vines sprouting off and forming legs. Percy stared in horror as the quiet girl from the party formed a giant spider of vines.

"Oh shit."

He threw himself to the side, barely dodging a massive vine strike from the creature. Rolling to his feet, he sent off a blast of water, shaving off the end of one of the legs.

Percy rolled to the side again, firing a second blast of water. The vine grew shorter, but his water was almost depleted. He summoned what he could from the puddle on the ground, but most of the water had been absorbed into the creature.

The raven haired boy sprinted forward, dodging another swing by the creature. He vaulted over a fallen chunk of the vine, and slid to a stop underneath the monster.

Percy pushed his hands forward, firing all the water he had at the beast's underside. The spider flew through the air, landing with a massive boom.

He cheered victoriously, until the spider got up again. It limped, missing a large chunk of it's body, but stood nonetheless.

The boy groaned, and sprinted away. 'Need water, now!'

Percy saw a hose looped on a hook next to one of the trucks. Dashing towards the hose, he spotted the faucet coming from the wall.

Mid sprint, a vine snaked out and latched onto Percy's leg. He was swung violently through the air, smashing into the creature as the vine retracted.

Percy began to panic as he was slowly enveloped into the beast's body. He stuck his hand out, pointing toward the faucet.

His gut twisted.

A river of water flowed from the hole in the wall where the faucet used to be, the force of the water smashing the faucet off the wall.

A giant fist formed in the air, smashing downwards onto the top of the beast. The monster, and Percy, slammed into the ground, Percy hearing a suspicious crack from his ribs.

The water hand grabbed Percy, and he was swept away from the mess of foliage that was beginning to stand. Percy watched in horror as the body regenerated before his eyes, sprouting several more vines.

A giant trunk of a tree flew from the inside of the monster, a wall of water stopping it. Percy fell back, the amount of energy he had dropping quickly.

Sweat rolled down his face, but Percy put in a Herculean effort. He enveloped himself in the water, forming a body suit. The amount of water continued to grow, making the suit and Percy's strength bigger by the second.

In seconds Percy was the same height as the beast. Percy's water suit cracked its knuckles, mirroring the boy from within.

Percy ducked a swipe from a vine, blasting a cannon of water so quickly that the entire vine vaporized. He grinned, launching a punch at the ball of nature.

His fist impacted solidly, the beast's legs buckling under the force. A left hook followed, this time smashing the creature into the ground. Percy straightened, and jumped into the air.

A gigantic, absolutely massive force smashed into the creature, Percy's feet flattening the monster. All that was left was wriggling vines, which were quickly vaporized by a blast of pressurized water.

Percy turned to Katie, "You're done for. Surrender."

She hissed, speaking for the first time, "Never! This is for my father!"

A long, thick branch was summoned out of her body, looking like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Percy cocked his head, not sure what she was doing.

The branch was flung forward, moving barely at all because her own strength was pitiful, but gaining speed with the force of her powers.

Percy's eyes widened as the branch launched towards his chest, a point so sharp it looked like it could cut steel.

He was a good distance away from Katie, she had retreated for safety. Time seemed to slow, the sharp piece of wood cutting through the air like a warm knife through butter.

It pierced Percy's water shell, slowing significantly. The branch slid through his armor, nearing his body. He slid to the right as fast as he could, but time resumed at normal speed.

The branch sliced a deep cut along his left side, and the water armor fell away. Percy collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. His side was turning a dark gray quickly, soaking his shirt.

Water surged up from the ground, flowing up Percy's body. He collapsed completely to the ground, groaning when his side hit the hard concrete.

Suddenly the pain decreased. Percy faintly looked down at his side, watching as the blood seeped back into his cut. The water flowed up into his body, and the cut disappeared before his eyes.

However, the wound did not disappear completely. A pale, wide scar was left behind. It was three inches across, and curved around his torso, about eight inches in length.

Percy rose to his knees, breathing heavily, and glared at Katie. She stared back, horrified as he slowly stood.

"What did they do to you?" she breathed, "You're unkillable."

He took step after echoing step, shirt in tatters, pants ripped, and sopping wet. Percy raised one hand, "Goodnight, Katie."

A dull blast of water knocked her unconscious.

The raven haired hero sighed as he limped to the remains of a pocket from his pants. In the madness his clothes had been utterly destroyed, but luckily his phone had been saved by a lifeproof case.

"Aphrodite. I need you to take care of someone again."

"Who?"

Percy turned, "Katie Gardner. I don't know what you did to that last guy, but send this crazy chick to the same prison that he went to. She's bat shit crazy."

Aphrodite sighed, clenching her fist under her desk, "Okay. I'll handle it. Hide her, um, let's say in a dumpster outside the building you're currently in. I'll retrieve her within the hour."

The boy hung up, gathering some water weakly and freezing it around her ankles and wrists. 'Hopefully these will hold.'

Percy hadn't frozen water before, but the ice was cold enough to stay frozen, but warm enough not to cause any permanent damage.

The boy took out his phone again, dialing another number.

"Hey mom? I need a favor."

* * *

"Percy! What in the world happened to you?" Sally yelled, inspecting her son with fervor, "Are you alright? Are you hurt at all?"

Percy sighed, "Yes mom I'm fine. Water turns out to be a very efficient healing factor."

"Healing! You just said you were fine!"

He groaned, "I'm healed now. Just a little scratch."

She raised both eyebrows, gesturing with her hand. Percy sighed, but showed her the large scar across his side.

"Oh Percy."

Sally looked on, coming to a halt with the over protective mother cover, and adopted a sad look on her face.

Percy grimaced, but buckled into the front seat with no difficulty. His stomach growled. He didn't dare ask his mother for food, and stared straight ahead, afraid of what a mother who just saw her son scarred would do.

The drive home was short and silent. Percy was afraid to speak, not ready to face an angry tirade, and Sally contemplating what to do about her son's potential future injuries.

The pair walked up the stairs of the complex, making their way into the apartment. Percy hurriedly left his mother alone, going to change clothes.

Sally sighed as she tiredly collapsed onto the couch. She had taken the rest of the day off, using a family emergency as the excuse.

A thought popped into her head, and she tapped a few words into Google. While Percy was busy getting new clothes, she had her own plan for a protective layer of clothing.

The raven haired hero walked out into the living room, inhaling deeply before entering. He was prepared for a scolding, but was surprised by his mother holding her laptop, facing him.

"If you are going to continue fighting crime, or whatever in the world did _that_ ," she pointed to his side, where the scar was hidden under his new shirt, "you are going to wear this."

Percy took a closer look at the screen, seeing a picture of Spiderman on the screen. His mother explained, "It would be a mixture of spandex and kevlar, or some similar materials. You _will_ be safe if you are going to do this, and I'll be damned if I didn't do something to prevent further injury."

Percy blinked once, twice, thrice. He stuttered, "Um, okay, but isn't kevlar really thick? I don't think that'll work."

She shook her head, "I don't care. You will be safe."

He nodded reluctantly, but understood the need. Percy took his leave from the room, grabbing an apple and heading to his room. Just as Percy was about to settle in for a well needed nap, his phone buzzed.

The boy opened the message, reading, "I can help with the suit."

That was the only sentence, from Aphrodite of course. He merely responded, "I'm not going to question how, but all I'll say it get it to me by tomorrow. I'll need it if I'm gonna face any more of those demigods as well."

"I can get it to you in an hour."

Percy grinned, and powered off his phone. He settled in for a well needed nap, murmuring a good night to Fins, who was already asleep.

* * *

Piper stared at her ceiling, face emotionless. Jason was in the room as well, working on some homework in the chair next to the bed. He looked up at her, a sad look in his eyes, but returned to his homework.

'No need to make her mood any worse.'

She sat up, bracing her back against the head of her bed. Piper scratched her leg absent mindedly, one hand hanging from her neck loosely. Slowly, she stood.

Jason looked on as Piper left the room, grabbing the fourth towel in two hours. He heard the shower start running after a few seconds.

He pulled his laptop out of his bag, opening it up. The same window opened, filled with several tabs all filled with articles about how to cope with… Piper's affliction.

Jason couldn't bring himself to say the word. It was too dirty. Piper was pure, innocent. That wasn't.

He sighed, pulling another tab open. Everything was the same, and yet he couldn't do any of what they suggested because she wouldn't _talk_.

Once more he clacked a few words into the search bar, hoping for results. A new link popped up at the top, he clicked as fast as he could.

Jason speed read through the article, and gathered one simple point. Time. He just had to wait, and she would open up eventually.

The shower stopped, and Piper entered the room. Her skin was a darker gray, showing signs of being rubbed raw. She had a towel wrapped around her chest, covering her body all the way down to her rear.

Jason obliged and turned around. He waited for minutes, but didn't hear her shuffle to her bed. His brow furrowed, but he kept his head firmly turned away from her.

"Piper? You done changing?"

"Yes."

Jason turned in the swivel chair, about to say something, when he was met with the naked form of Piper.

"Oh sh… Piper you said you were done!" Jason clamped a hand down firmly over his eyes.

There was no response, until she whispered, "Jason… I feel dirty. I can't become clean and I don't _feel_ right. I need someone to see me as who I am."

He didn't look up, but asked, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not Piper McLean, the innocent girl who lived a normal life. I'm Piper McLean, who's gone through the unthinkable and now has to live with it. I want you to be the first to see me as who I am now."

Jason breathed, 'Maybe she's finally opening up.'

He looked up, taking his hand away from his face. Piper stood there in all her glory. A slight blush shone on her cheeks, but she stood proudly.

Jason couldn't help but stare at the bruises on her neck, and the large one on her shoulder. His eyes teared up slightly as he saw the darker skin around her… private areas. It had clearly been scrubbed the most.

He stood and hugged Piper gently, "I'll always see you as you, Piper. We'll get through this, and I'll be here every step of the way."

A faint smile shown on Piper's face, before tears began to stream down both of their cheeks.

'Maybe we can recover from this.' Jason thought, 'Maybe we'll be okay.'

* * *

Percy jolted awake from his nap to a ring on the doorbell. He jumped up, dashing out the door of his bedroom, "I'll get it."

He smoothed his bed ruffled hair, and opened the door. Just as promised, a large cardboard box was placed neatly in front of the door. Strangely enough, Aphrodite had signed a note, reading, "I hope this suit finds you in good health, and maintains it too." She had placed her 'signature' at the bottom, a pair of dark lips, obviously from lipstick.

Percy carried the package inside the apartment. He placed it on the counter, showing his mom the note, "Maybe there's a guardian angel out there somewhere."

Sally snorted, "And she seems to be quite flirty as well."

The boy laughed, and opened the box. Inside was a bodysuit, dark gray for the majority of the 'coloring', but had highlights of white. He pulled it out of the box, noticing the long zipper on the back.

Percy rushed into his room, pulling it on as fast as he could. The suit was about an eighth of an inch thick, which gave the suit some cut down on maneuverability, but looked to be durable.

Fiddling with the zipper, he zipped it up all the way to his neck. The suit went up to just below his chin, covering all of his body. He felt the back of the suit tighten, and when he investigated, the zipper had disappeared!

Panicking slightly, he scratched at the surface, only for the zipper to reappear from behind a thin strip of the same material.

The boy stepped out into the living room, doing a full body spin for his mother, "How do I look?" Percy had a wide grin on his face.

Sally sighed, albeit with a smile on her face as well, "I suppose it will do. The question is, how durable is the material?"

Percy hesitated, but took a large serrated knife from the drawer in the kitchen. Sally yelped with surprise and panic as Percy slid it across his palm, but stared as the knife slid off easily.

The raven haired boy grinned widely, jumping with joy at the sight. He picked up the box, noticing there was another strip of the material in it.

Two football shaped holes were in the middle of the rectangle shaped fabric. Percy's grin widened as he placed it over his eyes. It molded easily to his face, and the ends stuck to his skin on the temples of his head.

"My little hero," was all Sally could manage before she burst into tears. She cried, "You're growing up so fast! I can't pretend to be one hundred percent okay with this, but if you're safe against a serrated knife, you must be as safe as you can be.

Percy hugged his mom, not saying anything. The pair held each other in silence, before Sally broke away, "Now, my little hero, go make some headlines."

A wide grin broke onto his face. Percy patted his pocket for his phone, feeling it inside of the suit. He nodded, turning the faucet on.

"You know mom, with this new suit giving me some extra padding, I think I've got an amazing idea."

Sally wiped her remaining tears, a questioning smile rising on her face, "Why do I feel like this will be terrible?"

Percy grinned, turning off the faucet. He took the water that he floated from the sink, and formed it into a skateboard, "I think it's a great idea!"

Sally tried to object, but Percy flew straight out the window of their apartment, into the setting sun.

And so the raven haired hero went to save the day.

* * *

Aphrodite waved uncharacteristically happily to the secretary of her father's office, and knocked on the door. A wide smile was set in stone on her face.

She strode in confidently, taking a seat happily. "Good evening father, Artemis."

Artemis didn't respond. Zeus stared in slight bewilderment, but hid it well, "I'm afraid we will be having someone join us today."

Aphrodite's smile wavered, but asked, "And who might that be?"

The door opened on cue, a tall, light haired man entering. He had long, flowing hair. It was gelled to perfection, and he had gleaming white teeth.

"Hey sis! And Aphrodite? What a surprise!"

Artemis growled, "Oh shut it Apollo, I despise your existence."

Aphrodite looked on in shock, "Apollo. I thought you left the company to pursue your medical career?"

Apollo grinned a pearly smile, "Well I did, but good ol' pops here called in a favor and brought me back. It's always good to see the family together, right?"

Zeus interrupted, "While I would _hate_ to stop this recollection of memories, I must ask that we get down to business."

Apollo adopted a straight face, taking a seat in the chair to the left of Aphrodite, Artemis already on her right. Zeus cleared his throat, "Now, there has been a discovery brought to my attention in the last hour, that one Perseus Jackson has gained an _experimental_ version of the Graphene suit we have been developing."

He glared at Aphrodite, "Care to tell me how you accessed this top secret project?"

Aphrodite wore a smug grin, "Let's just say your security guards got a few more than seven minutes in Heaven."

Apollo whistled, "Damn Diote, didn't know you had it in ya to go behind pops' back like that."

The sultry woman smiled, "You have no idea."

Apollo was about to respond, but Zeus cut in, "Enough! I do not care for this, all I want to know is why?"

She cocked her head, "The boy's been through enough. He's been experimented on by us, then tricked into believing our only competitor in the genetics business is the culprit. I figured if he was to attack them in public, he might as well be safe while doing it."

Zeus stood, fists clenched, "Do not _lie_ daughter. I know you did this at least partially to defy me. No matter, I will continue to test him. If he manages to make the connection that the closer he gets to stopping Lehman, the more demigods he crosses paths with, he'll be even more dedicated to fighting them."

Apollo stared in disbelief, clearly not being caught up on the full story. Artemis looked on unemotionally, but there was a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

Aphrodite stood as well, "He's doing this city well! He stopped a building fire just the other day, which, I might point out, _you_ caused."

Zeus raised his chin, accepting responsibility. She continued, "Not only that, but he's doing what you _want_. He's already handled the garage filled with the supply trucks, and that was _after_ a fight with one of your other experiments."

Zeus roared, "I'm furthering the human race! I'm on my way to creating _gods_."

Aphrodite stared in disgust, "You killed a girl's father because she failed to defeat a boy in combat. If that's not inhumane, I don't know what is."

He slammed himself into his seat, folding his hands, calming himself. "Please exit my office. This meeting had been concluded."

The beautiful woman stared on, but turned and left. After a moment Apollo stood as well, "Dad, I don't know what happened to you when I left, but this company has changed."

Apollo's stare hardened into a glare, "We used to be about healing people, curing cancer, paralysis, whatever else we set our eyes on. This company was going to change the health of the people on the planet, not change the people themselves."

He took one final breath, "I don't know what happened to you when I was gone for med school and then my time as a surgeon, but you aren't the Zeus Olympian I remember. You're colder, more cruel."

Apollo stormed out of the office before he broke something, falling in line with Aphrodite.

Artemis sat in the chair. She looked into Zeus' eyes. "I will have you know that I regret listening to you and starting that fire. I nearly ended a family because of blind loyalty to you. I can see clearly now, I'm done with you. No amount of money can change that."

Zeus stared despondently as Artemis followed suit with her twin brother and half sister. 'That was not how that was supposed to go.'

He slammed his fist on the desk, 'Now who will I turn to now?'

Zeus' eyes gleamed, and he picked up his cell phone.

"Hello, Ares? I need to call in a favor…"

* * *

 **So that's that. We got some epic Percy action, some insight on Piper and Jason's relationship dynamic, some more epic Percy action, and then some drama with the 'Lymps, as they call it in Hollywood.**

 **Or at least that's what I think they say. I'm not entirely sure. ANyway, review and stuff. That's what the cool kids do these days. (Also oml 5000 words againnnnn)**

 **See y'all laterrrrr o/**


	10. Chapter 10

Percy whooped with joy as he surfed through the streets of Manhattan. Or more accurately, he surfed through the skies of Manhattan. Below him was a watery skateboard, his feet submerged into it as to hold steadily.

Swishing his hand, Percy turned the skateboard slightly right. He felt a buzz in his pocket. Reaching for it automatically, his hand stopped against the firm fabric.

He groaned, and landed on a rooftop. Quickly Percy slid off part of his suit and pulled out his phone. Answering, Percy asked, "Hello?"

"Hello." Aphrodite.

He sighed, "Yes, Aphrodite, what do you need?"

The woman's smile came through in her voice, "Well I need a favor, there's a robbery about ten blocks from you, and the perps are about to make out with six and a half million is cash."

Percy jerked up, "Which way?"

"South by southwest."

Choosing not to question how the woman is able to do things like that, he jumped on his skateboard and shot into the sky.

Percy zoomed down 32nd, taking a quick right and heading towards the nearest bank. His phone was wedged between his collarbone and the tight suit, which provided a somewhat safe spot for it.

'Out of all things to forget, you forgot a damn _pocket_."

His monologue was cut off by a sudden honk of a horn beneath him. Looking down, Percy spotted a large van speeding along the road. The van sped between cars, running every red light it saw*.

Percy used his water control and lowered his board closer to the ground. He increased his speed, slowly gaining on the van. Ever so slowly the boy came along side the van.

Rick was not a good man. He had just robbed a bank, after all. However he was very proud of his stoicness. One of the few things he would brag to his friends would be his ability to watch horror movies with no reaction.

Now, as he sat in the passenger's seat of their getaway van, he noticed something come alongside the window. Turning to the side, Rick locked eyes with a teenage boy.

He screamed like a little girl.

Percy took some of the water from his board, feeding it through the small slit in the window. He pooled it around the man's face, and proceeded to slam it against the dashboard, just hard enough to knock the man out cold.

The boy winced as the man slumped lifelessly in his seat. Twirling his hands a bit, Percy maneuvered the water to lower the window. He gave a jolly grin at the guy in the driver's seat, before ducking back.

Percy lurched to a halt on his board, hearing the loud bang of a gun. Eye's wide, he shakily zoomed off, on much more edge than before.

Landing on the roof of the van, Percy gathered himself. He crouched down onto the roof, lying prone. Breathing deeply for a few moments, he eventually formed his board into a sharp point.

Reaching high into the air, spike of water hovering high above his hands, Percy slammed his fists into the roof. The spike followed suit, much more effective in the endeavour, and pierced straight through into the seat below.

The brake was slammed harshly inside, sending Percy flying from the roof. He barely grabbed a hold of a handle on top, but hurt his left arm badly.

"AGH dammit that hurts!" Percy whined.

The boy slid down the windshield, coming to a rest on the hood of the car, holding his arm. Looking in through teary eyes, Percy came eye to eye with the barrel of a gun.

Admittedly it was through a windshield, Percy was trying not to scream. He carefully slid lower on the hood of the van, but the gun shook with fervor as he moved. Freezing, Percy carefully levitated the water that was in the back of the van.

It carefully slid through the air, when the man yelled, "Get off the car, and I won't shoot!"

Percy raised his hands, with one slightly injured. He carefully took a step away from the hood, still in the line of the van. Just as Percy moved from the path, he flashed the water forward and slammed it into the man's hand.

The gun flew sideways from the man's grip, flying out the window and clattering onto the ground.

The boy sighed, and quickly dealt with the perp, knocking him out much like his friend. Percy levitated some water to form some icy bonds, and set the thieves up next to their car. Dusting off his hands, Percy turned to leave.

You could imagine his surprise when another gun was in his line of sight. The boy froze, carefully moving away from the bodies behind him.

"Put your hands on your head!"

Percy listened to the officer, who leaned into his radio, "I've caught the robbers, and it seems the pair had a third helping out."

The raven haired boy objected, "No! I stopped them, I would never!"

The cop narrowed his eyes, but kept his gun trained on Percy. "A likely story. What's with the get up anyway?"

The man gestured to Percy's suit, who looked down, "Oh, well I'm the guy you saw on TV. I control water."

The officer stared in disbelief, then laughed, "Ha! As if! You look like you're fifteen at most, probably closer to fourteen, maybe thirteen even."

Percy opened his mouth, mildly offended, "Hey now! I'll have you know that I am fifteen, Mr. Officer Sir, and I am in fact that guy."

He levitated some water for effect, "See?"

The cop's eye twitched, but didn't flinch other than that. He reached for his radio, "I request backup. Immediately."

Percy panicked, and banished some water at the officer's radio, which flew from the man's hand and clattered to the ground. It hung by an elastic cord, which Percy slashed with a blast of water.

"Sorry, I can't have my identity get out there, my mom would _kill_ me."

The officer studied his severed mic cord, mouth agape. He turned to confront the masked boy, but Percy was already zooming off into the sky.

The officer on duty reached for his mic to call in a report of the masked man, but realized he couldn't.

Percy laughed raucously as he laid on his board. His back was sunken into the board, stopping him from rolling off. Percy clenched his stomach, and eventually recovered.

"Oh man! Fins is gonna _love_ that story."

The boy flew through the skies at blinding speed, feeling his energy begin to drain. Quickly Percy found cover in an alley, flying in so quickly that he was just a blur.

Percy stripped off his suit and bundled it up. He carried it casually, pretending to not be holding one of the most expensive pieces of clothing ever.

He dialed Aphrodite, "Yo, I handled your money problem, you gonna explain why you had it in the first place?"

The woman replied, strangely positively, "I may have heard a report through a 911 call of a robbery at the bank nearby, so I called you."

Percy was about to say something, but hesitated. "Okay then, good. I guess we did something positive today, without attacking one of the most powerful companies in business."

Aphrodite hummed, and hung up. Percy stuffed his phone back into his actual pocket, and made the short walk home.

Entering the apartment, Percy saw his mom sitting on the couch watching the TV. A news report was on.

"Welcome back to the seven o'clock news. We have a breaking report that downtown earlier today, there was a sighting of a massive fight between a water wielding warrior and some nature ninja."

The TV cut to a shot of Percy fighting Katie's monster, Katie herself standing in the background with leaves dancing elegantly around her. Percy had a wide stance, and had his hood up as he stared into the creature's eyes.

"Eyewitness reports say that the person in the hood used water as a weapon, and even went so far to say that they saw the water heal them as if it was magic. Reportedly, the one in the hood is identified as a male, matching the descriptions of the earlier fire fighter from earlier this weekend."

It showed a shot of a watery hand saving a young child next to the flash of Percy running into the burnt building.

"However we have new reports come in. About thirty minutes ago there was a robbery at First Bank. According to the bank, there was roughly six to seven million stolen in cash and jewelry. The perps were caught, taken down by, once again, this water wielding warrior. We have an image caught by a photographer on the scene."

Percy stared in amazement at the fantastically clear image on screen. He must have been so pumped with adrenaline, but there was definitely a crowd on the sidewalks around where he had pursued the van.

The image showed Percy on top of the van, hands in the air. A crystal clear spike of water hovered above, the light casting beautiful gray reflections in the water. The picture even caught the man driving the van, menacing look on his face.

"The boy was said to knock out the criminal in the passenger's seat first, before engaging in a small encounter with the other. He quickly dealt with the threat, and saved roughly six point five million dollars from being stolen from people of this city."

Then the newscast took on a darker tone. It shifted to another image, this one of Percy flinging a spike of water to slice the radio attached to the officer's body.

"As hundreds of eyewitness accounts can confirm, the 'hero' was confronted by an officer of the NYPD. Officer Grant, one of the higher ranking officers, is safe, and is giving a live statement to us now."

The picture shifted to the officer Percy had confronted, holding the shredded wire in his hand.

"I approached the boy as soon as I arrived. He had already confronted the criminals, but I thought he was a third helping them escape. I kept my weapon trained on him, and called in that there might be a third perp. When he revealed he was… different, I once again called in, this time for backup, when he sliced my line."

Grant showed the camera his sliced radio line, holding the other half in his off hand, "The boy said, I kid you not, ' _If my identity gets out, my mom will kill me.'_ "

The reported asked, "And do you have any opinion from what you gained in your experience with this boy?"

The officer cocked his head, "I think the kid is a danger to himself. He must be fifteen, maybe younger. That's too young to be fighting crime, he could hurt himself."

The officer excused himself, and the newscaster took over, "There you have it folks. This boy has saved two children from a building fire, fought a superhuman in a garage, damaging expensive materials, and saved people of this city millions. We offer it to you as to whether this boy is a threat or a guardian of New York City."

The television clicked to commercial break, and Percy collapsed onto the recliner. He half heartedly dropped his suit on the ground, kicking up his feet.

"Fighting crime is _harrrd_ ," Percy whined, "My feet are really sooooore."

Sally laughed lightly, "Honey, I may be your mother but if you're sore I'm not going to massage your feet for goodness sake."

The boy groaned loudly, but reluctantly stood. He crawled into his room, collapsing onto his bed. Pulling out some homework from nearby, he started working.

Well, he tried, but then he gave in and told Fins _all_ about his epic adventure with a gun wielding maniac and surfing the skies.

* * *

Jason sighed as he got out of the cab and into the rain. The slight downpour had just started, and he pulled his hood over his head. Jogging from the path up to the porch, Jason knocked.

Luke answered after a moment, looking worse for wear. His normally gelled hair was ruffled, as if he had just rolled out of bed. He looked at Jason unemotionally, but stepped aside.

The taller boy hurried inside, taking his coat and setting it on the rack next to the entrance.

"Hey man, how ya doin'?"

Luke stared back, "Why are you here?"

Jason took the rude answer in stride, and continued, "Well… You haven't been particularly _responsive_ to Annabeth's texts, and so she asked me to see if you were doing alright."

He leaned in closer, "I know you didn't answer the door for her. What's up?"

Luke scratched his chin, but lead Jason into the sitting room, where the party had been the other night. Cups and plates still littered the ground, but there had been some attempt at cleaning.

"Jesus dude, you're normally ready for a few friends in a few hours after the party, not a day later…"

The poor looking boy stared back, and took a seat on one of the couches, "What do you want?"

Jason picked up a few plates, tossing them in the trash. He cleaned up the main room as he talked, "As I said, Annabeth was worried. When she woke up that morning after, you weren't there. She ignored it, mostly, but when you wouldn't respond to her texts she got really worried."

Luke groaned, "And here you are."

"And here I am." Jason agreed.

Both boys were quiet for a while, Jason continuing to pick up trash. Jason seemed to be fine with the silence, but Luke eventually broke the silence.

"I made a mistake."

Jason turned, head cocked and brow furrowed. He continued to clean, but then took a seat across from Luke.

He continued, "I… I kinda left Annabeth alone that night. Alex talked me into going and playing a round of beer pong, so I left her alone on the dance floor."

Jason raised an eyebrow, "I hardly think that's anything too bad. It was only leaving her for a moment, right? You at least _tried_ to find her again?"

Luke palmed his face, "Nope. My dumbass played a round, then two, four. Eventually I was so damn wasted I could barely walk. Luckily, I can handle my alcohol better than Annabeth, and stumbled into the first room I found."

The short haired boy frowned, "Once again, that doesn't seem too terrible. You could have at least returned her texts with an 'I'm not feeling well.' or something."

The tired boy collapsed onto his back, rubbing his face with both hands. "That's not it."

Jason motioned, and Luke continued, "I wandered into the nearest room. It was my dad's office. I grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge in there, recovering slightly. All I meant to do was rest my eyes in the chair, not…"

Jason had concern in his eyes, but kept silent.

"I… When I thought I had recovered enough to go find an actual bed, and my head had cleared somewhat, I stood. Shakily, of course, but I managed."

Luke stopped fidgeting, "I saw this _file_ on my dad's desk. Hermes, as you know, is a secretive man. He pretends to work as a high level manager of Amazon, but apparently he needed some other form of income."

Standing, Jason knelt by Luke, "Look man, I don't know what you saw, but you don't need to tell me if you aren't ready."

"No," Luke shook his head, sitting up, "I gotta do this."

The boy inhaled, "I was curious, and I opened the file. In it was a _description_ of a person. The name was A. Chase. I recognized the photo in the top, light hair, striking unique gray eyes. It looked like _Annabeth_."

Jason minorly recoiled, but hid most of his reaction. He took a seat next to Luke.

"But I read on, and, well, it's kinda a haze, but I read it over later. It wasn't Annabeth, but her mom. The file contained so much information, direct family, extended family, blood type, rough IQ estimate, scores on ACT's, everything."

Jason's eyes widened as Luke spoke the next words, "It was a top secret _biography_ on Annabeth's mom."

Luke's voice choked, "I felt so _scared_ for what I was reading. There were so many things that should have been secrets. Apparently Athena Chase had cheated on her husband within a year of marriage, but had never done it again."

"Holy shit," Jason breathed.

His pained eyes looked up, "There's more."

Luke stood, shuffling into a small, barely noticeable entrance to an office. Jason waited, hands covering his mouth, as Luke came back with a thick folder.

It dropped onto the coffee table in front of Jason, the other boy sitting next to him.

"Open it."

Jason did so reluctantly, carefully opening the folder. Inside were thirteen folders, all labeled with different letters and last names.

Artemis Olympian

Apollo Olympian

Ares Mars

Aphrodite Mars

Athena Chase

Demeter Gardner

Dionysus Bacchus

Hades di Angelo

Hestia Olympian

Hera Olympian

Hephaestus Valdez

Hermes Castellan

Poseidon Jackson

"What… is this?" Jason asked, bewildered at such a list. Every file had an equally in depth investigation on each person listed within."

Luke's eyes were dark, "I did some research. It took some looking around, particularly in last years' yearbook, but I found out some things. Ares Mars is father of Clarisse La Rue. According to this file, she kept her mother's maiden name when she passed. He's also father to Frank Zhang, but left him with his mother, who later passed, leaving Frank with his grandma."

Jason stared at the various files, trying to make a connection.

Luke continued, "It took some searching, but a rumor came up awhile ago, something about how 'Esteemed actor Tristan McLean had an affair with married Aphrodite Mars'. She refuted the claims, but no one could ignore how Tristan suddenly had a child about nine months later."

He kept going, "Athena Chase is mother of Annabeth. Demeter Gardner is mother of Katie Gardner, she was here the other night. Dionysus is father of Castor and Pollux, however he left both of them with their mother."

Jason's eyes widened further, reading into some of the files.

"Hades di Angelo is father of Nico di Angelo, and once again using these damn files, Hazel Levesque, however Hades seems to be unaware of Hazel. Hephaestus is father to Leo, and sadly Leo's mom, Esperanza, passed away during childhood."

"So much information, so many stories…" Jason muttered.

"Good ol' pops, the sneaky bastard, is father to me, Travis and Connor Stoll, and God knows how many others. He definitely had his fair share of 'sleepovers'."

Luke hesitated, "And Poseidon Jackson is father to Percy, but he hasn't been seen for years. Some claim he was seen in the Caribbean, others claim his boat was lost at sea, but those are the theories."

Jason stared horrified at the amount of connections between their group of mismatched friends and frienemies.

"But there is one more thing."

Luke pulled out his phone from his bath robe, typing in a few words. He showed Jason the screen. 'Olympian family list' was what he typed in. A list of fourteen people appeared, with the only missing name at the top.

Zeus Olympian.

Jason stared, "Dad…"

* * *

Leo ducked as a loud BANG echoed through his workshop. A tin can flew across the shop, crumpling against the opposite wall.

"Whoops…" Leo muttered, before continuing to mess with his project.

He fiddled with a small reaction of a firecracker and a match. It wasn't hard, light the fuse, put it in the can, boom! Rocket!

Except it was, because nine out of ten times the can either exploded into _really_ dangerous shrapnel, or flew too far. The key was trying to find the right kind of firecracker, of which he had eight more.

A knock. "I'm fine dad!" Leo called out, tightening his goggles.

Another knock.

Leo stood from his stool and walked up the small flight of stairs to the entrance of the basement. He opened the door, expecting the wide, stout frame of his father.

"Dad, I'm fine. It was only a small explosion."

A gruff voice responded, slightly less deep than Leo was used to, "I don't care about yer damn explosions, kid. And I promise that you ain't mine either."

Leo looked up from the can he was bending, into flaming eyes.

"Who are you?"

A grin appeared on the scarred face, dark eyes lighting up with a too realistic flame, "I'm Ares Mars, and _you_ are coming with me."

Leo yelled out with fright as the man grabbed him by the back of the shirt, but was lifted into the air and had a hand clamped onto his mouth.

"Ah ah ah, none of that."

Leo nodded and kept quiet. He was shoved through the hallway and out the front door. The boy tripped on the way out, and was picked up just as fast and set on his feet.

"Where are you taking me?" Leo asked, voice quivering.

"Somewhere _fun_. Other's might not have the same opinion, but I know it is." A mad grin crossed the scarred face again.

Leo got a look at his captor. A black leather jacket and dark jeans made his flame eyes seem even more terrorizing.

Outside Leo was lead to a dark pickup. He was shoved into the passenger seat, a firm hand on his back the entire way.

The small elvish boy looked quite strange next to the near 6'6" frame of a soldier. Ares' bulging muscles flexed as he gripped the steering wheel, and set off to their destination.

"Oh! Almost forgot!" Ares remembered, pulling out a small bag and rope. Leo's hands were pulled out, and tied behind his back roughly. The bag was shoved over Leo's head, blocking all vision.

Leo tried not to cry on the ride to wherever he was going, he really did. It was understandably terrifying, being abducted. A small sniffle came from the bag.

"Ah now you're making me feel bad. Enough of that, it'll be over soon I expect. It took me about a day to do mine, but then again it took me weeks to learn not to crush the doorknob."

A bellowing laugh filled the truck, Leo flinching at the loud noise. Nothing more was said, and they arrived at their destination.

Leo was jerked out of the car, and practically carried up a set of stairs. A door shut and closed, and the bag was removed from Leo's head.

Sterile white halls, lab coats shuffling around with trays of test tubes. White floors and ceiling, the colorlessness of it making Leo unnerved.

Ares turned to the boy, "Welcome to Olympian Labs!"

* * *

Aphrodite relaxed in the small diner she sat in. It was currently ten, the diner almost empty except for her and a loud group of teens.

The bell rang at the entrance, then the door slid shut. A greeting was heard, and a second person joined her at the table.

"Why hello there Aphrodite! Fancy meeting you here," Apollo grinned, white teeth sparkling. He brushed his hair with his fingers, "Where's Arty?"

A small smirk appeared on Aphrodite as she watched Apollo look around the empty diner, "I suppose she hasn't arrived yet."

The light haired man shrugged, turning back to the coffee he had already set in front of him.

"Oh GEEZ!" Apollo screamed. Artemis sat in the third seat, forming a triangle with the other two.

Apollo fell of his chair loudly, clattering the steel and tile together. The cashier laughed quietly, the manager glaring lightly. The group of teens passed laughs and jokes between themselves at the expense of Apollo.

"That wasn't nice Arty…" Apollo pouted, "You scared me."

Artemis smiled, a glint of something in her eyes, "What was that?" A small knife scratched a long cut in his designer jeans under the table, noticeably scratching Apollo lightly.

"Ahem! Artemis! I said Artemis, not Arty, Bambi, Moon-Face, or any other humourous to the world and yet insulting to you nickname," Apollo grinned innocently.

Aphrodite coughed, "Are you two going to address why we're here?"

The twins quickly stopped arguing, although Apollo glared at Artemis for a while longer. The woman spoke up, "We are here to talk about Perseus Jackson. You two are aware of him, correct?"

Artemis nodded, Apollo smirking, "Oh yeah… That kid who scored in the closet that one time," he trailed off, "You really have to stop corrupting me Aph, I went through your computer. You have every single tape of that kid from all security footage like, _ever_."

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, "That aside, we are here to discuss our allegiance with him. All three of us are with him, correct? Against Zeus?"

Nods around the table, but Artemis interjected, "Well, against Zeus yes, but the boy is not aware of Zeus' impact in his powers."

Aphrodite nodded, "Yes. I have handled that however, and I must thank you, Artemis, for the favor you did for me."

She nodded, and Apollo cocked his head. "What's this?"

"Artemis stole the files about each of us, the ones that Zeus has on us to keep us in check. I planted them in Hermes' house and made sure the child of Hermes found them. Soon all of the children will know, and we will have the power to overthrow Zeus once and for all."

Apollo once again cocked his head, "Wait, why do we need _children_ of all people to fight Zeus? Surely we could just take him out ourselves."

Artemis shook her head, "No. He has too many guards and none of us have powers. Keep in mind that if we make one move against Zeus outright and he's pumping himself full of every drug he has to make himself _god_."

The man leaned back in his seat, sipping his coffee.

Apollo nodded, "So we need the kids with powers, right?" Aphrodite nodded, "Okay, so we have one. Percy. What else? If Zeus has this big, powerful defense awaiting us, how will one attacker help us compared to his supposed 'elite' guard?"

The breathtaking woman sighed, "Sadly I don't think this is the end of Zeus' adventures. We need to wait until we have multiple demigods to attack him, and sadly that means letting him turn more people into creatures."

Apollo stared into the table. Artemis was solemn as well. The trio was all quiet, until Artemis broke the silence.

"So we are in agreement then? Wait until we have sufficient forces to attack Zeus and win, and then make the company back into its former glory."

Apollo and Aphrodite nodded. The trio stood, Apollo leaving a twenty on the table. They made their way out of the diner, leaving only a cold, dark conversation behind them.

* * *

 ***Red lights look as a certain shade of gray, and green and yellow are different too. It makes sense, trust me.**

 **Ok so that's a wrap. Interesting developments and things, Luke discovers the planted file of the Olympians, and soon their whole group will know about this mysteriousness.**

 **Leo! No! Our favorite fireboy will be returning, it seems. Give it til maybe the next chapter, but probably the one after that or two more.**

 **See y'all later o/**


End file.
